


The Fake Cities

by wolfie180g



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1 inch tall people, 7 inch tall people, Adventure, Angst, Arthur brought a shrink ray to a gun fight..., Borrowers - Freeform, Comfort, Complete, Crack, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, For the most part, Gen, Giants, Happy Ending, Human Experimentation, Human Pet, Kidnapping, Mad Scientists, Miniaturization, Tiny Robots, Trauma, Wrongful Imprisonment, but not really, different scales, dome city, force fields, going crazy, micro society, sci fi, selling tiny humans as pets, shrink, tinies, tiny cities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:27:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 106,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12389001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie180g/pseuds/wolfie180g
Summary: Two brothers, Arthur and Rasa Tubris, created a real working scale model of two fake cities, Vela and Argo. They invented adaptable temporal displacement fields, mini air, water and even micro-gravity so that the inch tall people could live inside the city domes. A disagreement between the two sets them against each other and Arthur is miniaturized and imprisoned inside the model along with others who were also kidnapped to populate the cities. When those people are eventually set free a few return for swift deadly revenge on the brothers. Rasa is sent away to save his life from the band of murderous thieves. He must find a way to rescue Arthur before he himself dies in the massive and enormous world.





	1. Trouble in the model

**Author's Note:**

> This was written many years ago before I found out that there was a G/t community out there that wasn't made up of kids. I thought I was alone out there till I happened on it, probably on this website if I'm honest, and the realization blew my mind.  
> So this is from the standing point of someone that didn't know jack shit for shit about what is expected from G/t. I tried to be as real as possible because I like making things make sense. There has to be a reason or explanation for the crazy - even if the explanation is made up it's gotta sound feasible. There has to be rules in my stories! Yet I'll read anything by anyone and love the everliving snot out of it. I'm hyper critical of myself and wanted to rewrite this whole story before posting but a few people convinced me to give y'all the original before I hack away at it. Lemme know what you think in the comments - what should change/stay the same.
    
    
     The Fake Cities  
    By: Wolfie180g  
    2010 version, pre-rewrite  
    read at your own risk! lol

 

 

C hapter One:  Trouble in the Model

 

 

 

" R asa!  _Please_ just stop all this... you don't have to do this! Bring me back, tie me up, put me in some closet if you want! Please, don't send me away to the cities!  _I'm begging you_ !" he shouted up to the looming figure.

"What are you so worked up about? You helped build them."

"It's not the cities I'm worried about, it's all those people, they are going to  _slaughter_ me Rasa!"

"If I tell them that I will crush anyone that touches you would that make you feel better?"

"What? Yes... wait... no...  _whatever_ . Just don't put me in there!" he backed up away from the hand.

Rasa let out a deep disappointed breath at his older brother's cowardice and said, "They are just people, they might not even remember who you are so blend in. I'm gonna give you the emergency phone in any case. Only use it when your life is in mortal danger. Not to just ring me up to idle chat. You can come out when you are ready to play ball. Until then, welcome home Arthur."

 

 

 

This is the story of the Tubris brothers, brilliant lifelong inventors that built, among other things, a unique miniature society. It seemed in all respects to be a working replica, or model, of two fictional cities, Argo and Vela. The population of these two cities consisted of just over one thousand fake people that believed they were real. They were programmed not to question their world at all. Just to live, work and evolve inside of it. All three chores are relative in their terms, for they were not 'alive', they did not have to work, and they could only evolve in intelligence and not in physical body like how animals evolve to fit their surroundings.

 

Arthur and Rasa Tubris had a growing fundamental disagreement that split them apart. Tensions grew between them as neither would move or change their minds on a very important matter. The cool headed and older brother Arthur, knew that the easiest way to win his younger brother Rasa over, was to just wait it out. Eventually, Rasa's temperament would ease and he was usually more open to discussion on the matters at hand. This time, however, Rasa was not going to calm down and back off like he usually does. He was adamant that he was right and would not be passive aggressively bullied into doing whatever his older brother wanted.

Rasa was the more fit and trim of the two, being five years younger and six inches taller then his older brother. Arthur however, was usually more calm and composed. Reason and methodical planning were his self imposed rules on every matter, big or small. Rasa wasn't the 'wait and see' kind of guy, he saw it as a weakness of sorts, and would aim for swift and decisive action. At the same time, he was very intelligent and didn't run into situations headlong. Arthur would have preferred that he at least would take a little more time in debating before deciding.

In this one particular case, Rasa's frustration at Arthur's unwillingness to listen to his proposal built up inside of him until he just snapped. As Arthur worked intently on the model city Vela, Rasa took control of the situation by impulsively knocking his older brother out. Arthur was only unconscious but the sudden realization of what he had just done frightened Rasa and he didn't know what to do next. He stood in front of Arthur at the foot of the model, panicking terribly, searching the large room for some plan of action. Arthur would surely wake up soon and pissed off, wanting immediate revenge on Rasa so to delay that moment until Arthur could calm down, Rasa decided to miniaturize and implant his brother inside the model. There he could be put away, safe and harmless.

Arthur woke up on a small white tray as his now enormous brother Rasa was busy turning off the model and opening up a hatch over Vela. The realization of what his brother was planning terrified Arthur because lately, the only reason to turn off the model was to stop its timeline in order to send in new prisoners. His stomach churned as he feared the worst. He felt utterly betrayed and helpless standing there, but that was nothing compared to the fear that he would soon be hunted down and slaughtered by his captives inside the model. Looking anxiously over the rim of his holding tray, Arthur saw Rasa adjust the city time frame from its current setting of 'double speed' to 'sextuplet'.

 

With the temporal field surrounding the domed cities turned on, time was relative and could be changed with the flips of a few switches speeding it up or slowing it down. Only when the field was turned off could the dome be opened and time would pass by normally for both sides of the dome. The brothers found that one full week inside the model verses the single day outside, was an easy way to view its progress.

The room’s timeline remains normal because it is in the real world, while the models timeline could be sped up dramatically so that the brothers could see how the society progressed in a matter of a few weeks rather then the months that passed by for the two fake cities. But in order to do so, the cities must be sectioned off from the huge lab room via a specially made large dome that had numerous panels that could be opened for easy access. It wasn't a true semi sphere, more like a kidney shape for Vela, and the dome over Argo was more elongated and oval. Both domes were connected together so that they shared the same air and were separated only by a winding fake river with a few bridges crossing it.

They were not huge metropolises, but calling them towns wouldn't do them justice. The individual properties were small, with barely any yard space to speak of for most houses. But still, its coziness was comforting and it allowed for friendlier connectivity between the neighbors.

The resident occupants could only see the projected image of sky with light fog simulating clouds as well as a fake sun that is actually a weak bulb that rotated from one side of the dome to the other. The temperature under the domes would always be tolerable through the fake years. Much like southern states, where the weather wouldn't change as drastically as northern states.

The Tubris brothers had started working on the model over a decade ago, (real time). Usually one would be inside and the other outside to help put the larger pieces in place. For example, moving tiny houses was easier when you're normal sized then just over an inch tall. But it often takes the vantage point of the miniature brother to figure out the best place for the various things.

It started out as a sentimental hobby, but over time, it became a kind of obsession for creating an ideal world to replace the real one. Where a sandwich could feed a 30 miniature people a day, the hunger crisis in many countries could be solved with the creation of numerous models tailor made for the individuals that would live inside them. This was all envisioned far into the future. First they had to make sure the model was safe to live in for a long period of time. Not just a few years. There were still numerous problems to solve in keeping the residents alive, safe and secure.

The brothers vast wealth, knowledge and home defenses kept the whole project secret from the world's prying eyes. Warning signs placed everywhere did not detour the few obstinate people that would trespass onto their estate to excessively harass them about the strange happenings that went on there. The more petulant ones were usually kidnapped and put into the model as an experiment to see if real, living humans could fit in with the fake humans. More often then not, the trespassers were out to steal something from their estate, vandalize and the like, and so the brothers had few qualms about keeping the real people in the model. If they weren't in the cities, they would surely be in prison.

The brothers had kidnapped dozens of people that came to their house and all were replaced in the real world with advanced robot copies of them. The robotic copies of the real people were covered in synthesized human skin. They made temporary plaster molds of the real people while they were unconscious to re-create facial features as well as body type. Painstakingly adding integrated muscle movements to look even more real. The robot 'clones' of the people were then sent back to the persons home to tell their family that nothing at all was going on in the Tubris brother’s house and everything was fine. The brother's biological technology had not advanced yet to make cloned living copies of the people, and specialized more in copying everything else about a person and imprinting it to the robotic clone that was sent to replace them. That part of their technology wasn't entirely invented by them. They had bought outright most of the research and technology from third party sources and improved on it for their own purposes.

Their copying technology was unlike anything else out there in that field, because it was so complex. Copying the neurological pathways in the brain for memories as well as the visual physical attributes of that person. The intuitive programs the robots were designed with, learned the behaviors and mannerisms of the originals by just studying them for a few hours. They could not copy their souls or spiritual minds of course, that was still being used by the original humans who now reside inside the city model. The part of the person that ultimately decides what is moral or immoral always stayed with that real human being. That is why they could not simply catch, copy, and release the real people. The copies would never advance past their original program date.

The miniature people were not completely cut off from the real world, but it was only a unfiltered window to the huge lab room that encompassed the model along with its operating systems. The basement of the Tubris estate had to be excavated out to reach far past the foundations of the house to accommodate their needs. The model itself took up such a huge space, that it was often difficult for them to reach the center most areas. So they simply built the center areas of the towns first and spiraled out from there. Inadvertently copying what every major city does. Start close to a river or water source, then spread out from that point.

Their miniature base of operations had to be rebuilt several times to stay close to the edge of the domes for easy access and communication. The Control houses they reside and work in inside the model remain strictly off limits to the rest of the citizens. Labs in the old bases of operation were where they worked on specialized machines and devices. Sometimes it was easier then building the things in the real world and trying to miniaturize them for the small one.

The massive basement lab also housed a separate bio-dome to produce the oxygen needed for the miniature living citizens. Integrated into the model via complicated duct work that also replicated weather climates for the domes. Creating rain, wind, fog, and anything else they programmed it to produce. The lab also has numerous extremely sensitive machines that keep everything running smoothly.

In the smaller of the cities, Vela, lies a window to real-time beyond the temporal displacement field. It enables any living person inside the miniature Control house to interact with the real world on the normal timeline. Outside of the small Control house, the dome covering the cities would look like a normal sky with clouds and sun, but through the window like device inside the house, the miniature people could see what was really going on outside of the dome. It decoded the algorithm for the skies programmed appearance. The Control house was set up as a kind of safe-house as well, so if any fake people found it and tried to go into the Control room inside of the house, they would short out and be programmed to forget everything and leave immediately.

The Tubris brothers, when they got along, would go into the model and explore and build onto it for days or even weeks at a time in that sped up timeline. Returning to the real world where only an hour or day had passed. The instinctual drive they both had to build, enhance and create drove them into making the most advanced machines they could. For years they had been tweaking the domed model society in one way or another, for their own studies but most of the time, they did it just for entertainment.

One time, for fun, the younger brother Rasa had added copies of a bunch of characters from books he had liked, as well as all kinds of random sources. Namely television shows from their childhood in the 70's, human renditions of cartoon characters, as well as characters from old 80's movies to mix it up in the cities.

Arthur liked the way Rasa thought and in the dark cavern-like underside of the model, he put facsimiles of horrid beasts and monsters to frighten the fake humanoid residents so they would avoid the power source underneath Argo. They didn’t want any small people to accidentally break the models systems by tampering with the dangerous power core. Even the oil that lubricated the gears was toxic to the small people, so extreme care was needed in keeping careless people out.

Before they had to worry about living people inside the model, the miniature brother could tweak the power core in one way or another to adjust or amplify its power output. But now, they couldn't allow any miniature person to access it, for everyone's safety. So it was blocked by sizable rocks and terrifying monsters to help guard it.

The brothers had set up the model to freeze its time whenever they wanted to speak with each other in real time. The one in the real world would turn off the daylight simulator and flash a bright red light in the model. Word of the red flash spreads quickly and the one inside would have enough time to make it to the temporal Control house from anywhere in the model and give the signal to the other that he had arrived. Time would be turned off in the model and they could talk to each other and change different aspects of the model, send updates or new inmates.

 

Arthur was convinced that he was going to be stuck inside the model for a long time so he took up the alias Author Japeddo. Author, for being part creator of the cities and Japeddo phonetically for Pinocchio's father. Arthur liked that name because it meant that even though he helped create the cities in nearly every way, he also wanted to make the citizens real. For them to have their own minds.

His younger brother Rasa on the other hand, wanted to use the sped up timeline and modified citizens to create a futuristic society. So all he had to do was wait for the cities to come up with the next practical invention for him to rip off and sell to the real world as his own. Over time, it wasn't satisfying enough to have this wonderful little model and all of their inventions over his lifetime. Rasa felt that he wasn't going to be remembered at all for his accomplishments, and instead, he needed to produce something tangible for the world, to make his mark on it. A mid-life crisis of sorts for the struggling inventor. It was an unbreakable agreement between the brothers that their life's work remained secret, but minor inventions were fair game, but, he could only create and think in advanced terms and mechanics.

When Rasa had turned 40, he soon wanted to become famous and recognized around the world for something that everyone could use. Not just other super scientists. All of their own technology that they had inherited and invented, was not practical for the average citizen in any way shape or form. He figured since they created the fake people, whatever the fake people create that was interesting or revolutionary was his for the taking. By his reckoning, Rasa had invented it and wanted to take credit for it.

The brothers were split in two on this and the larger matter at hand of free will for the fake people. The fundamental disagreements set the brothers against each other.

Author sensed that his sometimes hot headed younger brother might do something drastic, and had just managed to put safeguards on the models 'living' systems before his brother did anything stupid. It meant that only Author could control the city's inhabitants, from either the real world or the fake.

But even so, it was now Rasa who had control over the model itself. Being in the outside world, he had the power to change or even destroy the two cities whole at any moment in just about any way possible. Controlling every physical aspect of the model but not the peoples minds inside it.

Rasa didn't want to hurt or kill his older brother but was soon driven by anger, greed and resentment to keep him locked away in the model until he would give up on his ridiculous ideas of trying to free the minds of the robots. Rasa thought that if the robots were free to do whatever they wanted or wished, then the drive to invent and better their surroundings would be replaced with the desire to rest. As he viewed everyone doing in the real world. He saw normal mendacious society as being lazy, ignorant, and deceitful. With no drive to better themselves scientifically, intellectually or even physically.

 

A month in the cities would pass and in that time only 5 days went by in the real world. Often Author would watch his brother slowly work away in the huge room they had once shared as partners, and lamented the loss of their friendship. He eventually managed to find all of the other real people in the model and formed an organization that needed to stay hidden from the rest. If the ever evolving robots found out about them there was no telling what trouble would start.

The group of real people called themselves the Reas and everyone else that resided there as Faks. Used most often as a derogatory term, it sounds more like a cuss word then shortened down ‘fakes’. To think of them as less for being robots and not real people. The Faks had no concept that they were different, and so ignored the real people, thinking everyone was the same. Some quirks however, were shared and passed on from one group to the other subconsciously. This is what the brothers intended when they kidnapped the real people. To spark a kind of natural evolution in both human and robots alike.

Sometimes changing the parameters of the models components to create a chance for change. Usually minute changes, like a building turned diagonally on a street. Would other people want to build their own houses in that style? Thinking it was new and interesting? Or would they berate and harass the houses occupants until the building was torn down and 'fixed' to fit along with the others. But not only things of that nature, the sporadic introduction to different styles of cloths. Would everyone adapt, change how they dress, dismiss and move on, or make other things that would match the cloths. Like cowboy hats introduced would incite some people to dress in boots and trench coats.

It seemed like the brothers testing out different possibilities within the model, was also a kind of way of studying their human behavior. Expecting one thing from a change and getting a completely different one instead. So the brothers kept the living real people inside the model, for the behavioral tests as well as the search for what makes humans, people.

The goals shifted to that of using the models inhabitants for gaining fame and making legitimate money versus liberating the minds of people that are not technically people.

 

The standoff continued.

 


	2. The Argument

C hapter Two:  The Argument 

 

 

 

T he two cities' activities slowed to a crawl and halted completely. Things were dropped and rolled down the street and some Faks were off balance in mid step, falling stiffly to their sides, frozen in time.

One man stared down the now silent streets and knew what had happened. He sighed heavily and took his time getting to the Control house a half mile away. Occasionally glancing upwards to see the expectant and disappointed face of a huge man in the sky. He had longish shaggy brown hair that hung like an aging rock star as well as a goatee that was beginning to look like a full on beard. He frowned slightly but the view was obstructed by a building the lone man walked in front of.

The sky cleared of all blueness and wispy clouds dissipated. He entered the front door and went to the far back of the house to a hidden room behind a door that looked like a wall section. He sat in an expensive office chair at a neat and orderly desk with a very peculiar looking computer bank and bendable microphone cable hooked up around it. The whole room separated itself from the house and vibrated everything nearby as it lifted from the foundations of the Control house. It rose two stories into the air suspended by a hydraulically motorized lifting unit that hummed as it hoisted it upwards. The roof then parted down the center so the whole room could be viewed easily from overhead.

The man leaned forward to the desk and tapped on the microphone, checking it to make sure that all of his equipment still worked as he hadn't used it in just over a month. The office chair had been bolted to the floor to keep it from moving as the office was raised or lowered, but it was not close enough to the desk for his tastes. Still, he simply ignored the chairs' faults and leaned far back in it, bringing the long stem of the microphone over from the desktop to speak more comfortably. He sighed heavily because he knew that this wasn't going to be an ordinary chat and anything that could be done to alleviate the impending stress was welcomed.

He nodded at the extremely huge figure that sat all around and nearly above him who shifted in his old rough desk chair, sending a light breeze across the miniature house.

"I heard your name is now 'Author Japeddo'. What was wrong with your real name?" The baritone voice boomed all around the house and vibrated the small desk, making clinking sounds from the pens and pencils in a glass jar with the sound wave.

"I like my new one better. Rasa." Author said into the microphone as he made sure the glass of pens wouldn't fall off of his desk.

"Are you that ashamed of your family name?" Rasa said cocking his head and held up a remote to the north. Turning up the volume of the speakers on the far wall of the lab so he could hear the diminutive figure more clearly.

"You are the only family I have, and yes, I am ashamed of you." Author said glaring at the enormous man.

"You're ashamed of me?! You chose these damned robots over real life! You've been living in a fantasy world for years. All I did was make it a reality for you. It suits you  _Arthur_ ." Rasa growled at the inch tall figure of his sibling.

Author's ears hurt from the loud booming voice of his younger brother and wanted to put his hands against his head so he wouldn't get another headache. However, he knew that would only antagonize Rasa so he braved it. "I suppose looking down on these cities like that makes you feel more like a deity right? Come down here and talk to me man to man." Author leaned forward and pointing down to his house.

"Yeah you'd like that, I come down there and you have your minions ambush me. Keep me locked up in that miniscule prison." Rasa waved a heavy hand over to the larger city, Argo.

"Fair is fair little brother. But I wouldn't do that to you. As evidence shows that you were the one that kidnapped me." Author spread his arms out.

"I'll release you as soon as you give me back control of the robots. That's all you have to do, then you can be set free."

"Then what? What is your plan for them? You have no idea the potential these Faks have and you know it. I know you better then you know yourself. You would harvest their hard earned work and progress and say it was your own. Making money off of the blood and sweat of their labor."

"We created them! We are their owners, whatever they produce is ours. Why can't you see that? They are not your children to teach, raise and send off to live their own lives. THEY ARENT EVEN ALIVE!" Rasa stood up and leaned clear over Author, casting his dark shadow over half of the residential block. It also forced Author to crane his neck to look him in the eye. Author adjusted his chair backwards to give the impression that he was merely taking a quick rest in a lazy boy.

"So you have no idea what has been going on down here. That's comforting at least." Author laced his fingers over his stomach and gave a smile that enraged his brother.

Rasa picked up his desk chair and sent it sailing across the huge lab room until it shattered the bio-dome they had been working on.

The bio-dome filtered oxygen to and from the cities, circulating it around the model so that the living people inside of it didn't have to struggle to breath. The short times spent breathing the normal air from the real world was tough but bearable, but after extended periods of time the large molecules of air in the miniature lungs would eventually cause them to suffocate and die. They figured at a restful breathing rate the miniature people would die within three hours. If they breathed faster, like panicking, or injured then a mere 40 minutes later they would pass out and die sooner.

The desk chair dug one of its wheels under a tree from the force of the throw, and it flipped headrest side down to uproot the tree and several others next to it. Curved glass cracked and shattered all over the mini forest then the lab's floor. The chair ran into a supporting leg of the table and caused a three foot tall red oak tree to flip and splinter as it crashed to the floor far below. Dirt billowed over the shattered glass from the bio-dome. The chair finally rested with fine dirt and greenery spilled all over it.

"Calm down Rasa." Author said forcefully, leaning into the microphone so it echoed around the huge room. The sound bounced off of the walls back to Author and nearly knocked him off of his seat with the audio waves. Rasa spun around and stormed back to the model and over the house where Author was shaking his head at the audio punch in the face. "Oww." He said quietly and looked overhead when he felt a menacing rush of air move quickly past him and he cringed involuntarily.

"Don't tell me to calm down! My own brother thinks I'm an idiot!!" Rasa shouted at the one inch tall figure. "I could kill you with the snap of my fingers and yet you sit there with that know-it-all expression on your face!"

Author took a few moments to gather his wits. Instinct told him to run from the colossal terror overhead while his emotions and feelings told him to trust in his family. As scary as he might be at this minute.

His voice quavered a bit, but found confidence, even if it was forced, "You, you can't kill me. I'm the only one that knows how to fix the temporal field...if it breaks down..." Author tried pitiably to remind Rasa that he was still valuable, even though he was currently no bigger then a permanent marker cap. "You need to keep me alive... please." he almost begged.

"You're such a stupid asshole." Rasa muttered indignantly, frustrated with Author's lack of faith in him, for believing Rasa to be a cold blooded murderer to anyone that disagreed with him. "I can't kill you because I still love my brother. No matter what you may think of me. I am not a murderer." he said, backing up from the model a little. "I love and respect you brother. One day, you're gonna wake up in that little house of yours and realize that  _you_ need me as much as I need you."

Author did, but Rasa felt that it was only because they were related, not because they had a strong bond and relationship as friends and partners.

It was a serious mistake to say such a hurtful thing, threatening his brothers life, or even reminding Author that he could be killed so easily. Of course Rasa had the power to do so, but saying it out loud was unforgivable, and he knew it.

Rasa brought over a dusty old chair from the corner and sat down in front of the immense support table that held up Vela, the smaller of the two cities. He sat there just breathing heavily at Author for a time. Clenching his teeth and tapping his fingertips on the arms of the chair until he calmed down all the way. Trying to think of a new way to gain Author's trust without giving into his demands.

"So what now?" Author said looking up at his enormous little brother sitting in his old leather work chair. It was covered with puncture marks all along the arms where Author had stabbed it repeatedly with his sculptors knife years ago, mostly out of boredom. He swallowed hard at the thought of how much easier it would be for him to be pierced then the arms of that leather chair. Grateful that his brother wasn't the mindless stabbing type.

Rasa sighed and sat back in the seat, sending up a small cloud of dust behind him. He glanced around the right side of the room at the skyscrapers in the other city, Argo. "You want to prove to me that giving the citizens free will that they can evolve on their own."

"That's part of it." Author said.

"But what is your ultimate plan? You think you know mine pretty damned well. What's yours?"

"I can't tell you." Author said hesitantly, quietly adding, "I know you would do everything in your power to control the experiment."

"Experiment? What are you cooking down there?" Rasa sounded interested and leaned over Author and spied on the town from above. He stood up from his chair, giving Author vertigo, and walked over to the larger city dome and brought over his long scissor-stemmed magnifying glass to it. Swiveling it around to the different sections and smirking at the unmoving figures of the human like robots. Frozen in time it seemed that even the living elements stopped as well.

Rasa turned off the wind and turned on the old overhead lights of the room to full illumination to see better. A near blinding whiteness covered every building of the two cities. The details were now easier to see but some smaller delicate things were showing ominous heat rays come off of them.

Author started to sweat immediately as the temperature increased dramatically over a few minutes under the domes. The overhead light magnified intensity through the clear warped domes. Acting like a solar cooker.

Rasa studied the sky scrapers and peered in through the large windows they had designed for voyeurs eyes only.

" _Rasa.... please.... turn the lights down..._ " Author pleaded into the microphone then fell off of his chair to the floor. He crawled over to the control panel in his elevated room, lowering it back to street level again. Shading his head with his arms and panting heavily, he staggered off to douse himself with cold water from his kitchen.

Rasa walked back over to the Control house where his older brother was and put his hand over the kitchen, shading it from the overhead light and dropping the temperature back to normal. Author ran his head under the sink for awhile and he could swear he saw steam coming off of his now bright red arms.

"Sorry Bro." Rasa said as he put a piece of paper over the small house to shade it while he went over to the dimmer switch to return the lights to a safer setting.

Rasa removed the paper and sat down again in front of the model. Author gave a nasty look upwards and painfully made his way back to his desk chair. He leaned into the microphone and said quite disdainfully, "If you want to kill me there's more  _humane_ ways of doing it." He flung the microphone away with contempt but it swiveled back around to him.

"I wasn't trying to kill you! When are you gonna get that through your little skull?" Rasa said leaning in closer to the small figure. It was hard telling what expressions Author had on his face. Even when normal sized, Author hid his feelings most of the time. But today, he was pushed to his limits.

"So what are you gonna do Rasa? Leave me here to die at the hands of those Rea convicts? Or maybe you want to just keep me imprisoned for the rest of my life. You know it wouldn't be but a minute if you recklessly change the time fields again. So you better decide  _quickly_ if your greed is worth  _murdering your only family!_ " Author shouted into the microphone and held onto his chair when the sound wave came back tenfold.

Rasa trembled and glared at Author and stood back up from his seat. Before saying something rash and hurtful again, he counted to ten in his head and then walked stiffly over to the shattered bio-dome. He put his fretful hands on the botanical display and over his shoulder said, "It will take some time to fix this. You and the other Reas will just have to bear with me in the mean time. I'll let you know when you can go back in there to tend to the trees and plants." Rasa closed the small tunnel entry way to the botanical bio-dome so no one could get in. He was glad to find the bio-dome free of Reas when it broke. There were however 3 Faks in there so he picked them up, inspected the damage to them, and finding them all broken in some way, he simply threw the little robots in the waste basket.

He then sighed heavily at the whole mess and walked guiltily to the opened panel over the Control house. Refusing to look at his brother he said quietly, "Gotta get the glass cleaned up first." He sealed up the panel then turned off the speakers before Author could respond.

"Rasa.... Rasa! Damn you Brother. You always had to have the last word." Author said shoving his microphone aside. He really thought he was getting somewhere with his argument but it ended too soon. He thought of what he could say next time to get himself released from this place. Trying to appeal to Rasa's apparent feelings of guilt and loneliness, or maybe his pride and greed. Trick him into letting Author go free, or perhaps, give in to his demands for real. Endlessly weighing one option over the others exacerbated his headache. There had to be another way out.

Author knew with the bio-dome glass broken, he and all of the Reas would run out of fresh city air in only a few hours of real time, or a day in the model's altered timeline. To keep the miniatures alive and breathing longer, the model had to remain off. So Author had as long as it took for his brother to fix the bio-dome to wander around the streets of frozen figures.

Author went to his small computer bank and tried to hack into the large lab room's main control panel while he was sharing its same timeline. He knew it was hopeless because Rasa was no idiot. All of the normal hardwired connections between the model and room would have been detached by Rasa's hand. Leaving it up to Author to come up with a different way to get the attention of the room's helper robotic arms to make the connection for him. The question was now, how to get the attention of a robot’s arm when it is across the enormous lab room.

He left his house and summoned the other Reas using a small device that is not all that dissimilar to pagers.

The Tubris brothers could have built the model to represent any time period but chose the city's basic timeline to be around the year 2000. So finding the right materials to build the pagers was easy enough. The hard part was trying to convince all of the Reas in the model to join together for one goal.

Half of them went crazy from being locked up against their will while their families were spending all of their time with a cloned version of themselves. Their families would never know where the original real people were or even that they were missing at all. Replaced by clones the Reas might as well be dead. Other Reas accepted their new lives and managed to keep some semblance of sanity while being held captive in this ridiculous version of the 'real world'. Where fictional characters lived as neighbors and worked in normal jobs. For example, the police station was populated by a few Keystone cops, Sherlock Holmes among others from classic TV shows.

At first the Reas were more then a little star struck by seeing so many famous people and characters in one place but it waned with time as they got used to going to the local coffee shop with cheap copies of half of Hollywood's finest.

The Reas reluctantly made Author their leader as it was obvious that even though he was just over an inch tall like the rest of them, he was the only one that could return them to the real world. Some Reas didn't want to leave and others hated Author because he and his brother were the ones that sent them all into the model in the first place. Back when they were both normal sized and hell bent on keeping their work a secret.

Author had to admit that it was incredibly wrong of them to kidnap anyone that came to their door but it seemed like a good idea at the time. He and Rasa were of like mind that the grand experiment would be worth it in the end. In all, there were 32 Reas and just over a thousand Faks. The majority of the Faks were groups of ten to twenty with minor differences in shape and size and cognitive abilities. It was easier then coming up with a thousand completely unique robots. The Reas helped out immensely in making each Fak inadvertently change slightly to be different from the rest. Further proving their point that the Faks needed the Reas in order to evolve.

The Reas didn't realize that part of the plan, and thought they were in the model as over excessive punishment for trespassing. Whether they liked Author or not, the Reas had to get together when he summoned them. There were simply too few of them to do anything alone. It was like living on a deserted island that happened to be filled with buildings and life-like people. Some Reas let themselves be fooled into thinking that the Faks were real too, but whenever time stopped, the reality was way too depressing to bear. Like waking up from a dream to realize that your world is nothing but a big game with moving pieces.

The first Reas converged on Author's house and politely waited for the majority of real people to arrive before starting the group discussion. Greeting each other like an AA meeting.

A truck screamed to a halt on the neighbor's lawn, tearing up the grass. A door flung open angrily. "What the hell Author? What are you trying to pull anyways?" A large man named Trent said waving an arm over to the shattered bio-dome.

"Get over it and shut up, it's not Author's fault what his brother does." A young woman said, patting Author on the back. He wished she wouldn't, because it was still partially his fault what Rasa does.

"The hell it's not! Author's trying to kill us all with his arguments with Rasa." Trent shouted.

"Rasa is the real bad guy here, Author is one of us now. Accept it."

"He will never be one of us, he is one of them! Bastards think they can play with peoples lives, do what you want to us. I am not your puppet!" Trent said shoving Author in the shoulder. Author was not very tall but this guy made him look puny. Author clenched his teeth but remained calm. Trent was always an asshole and expecting anything different from him was like tilting at windmills. As their leader he had to remain focused and collected.

"I only remember Rasa putting me in the model. Does anyone remember Author doing that?" A lanky boy said.

"Yeah, to me." A young girl stared hard at Author and stepped behind Trent.

Author gave the girl an apologetic look and mouthed, "Sorry."

"The way I see it it's fitting justice that you're stuck here with the rest of us." A woman said, who in all respects looked to be the merciless mercenary type, but in heels. Her name is Shauna and had a liking to Trent and therefore did not like the young girl hanging around him with her fragrant cinnamon lips.

In his mind Author thought, 'Hello, my treacherous friends' as he faced the larger group of people that stood on his front yard. Half seemed to be more or less ok with him now, but the rest wanted to beat him senseless, if not more then that. The only thing keeping Author alive was the hope that he could still get them out. A mixed group indeed, there was only one connection, they were all kidnapped by the brothers because they had all trespassed.

Author addressed the surly faces of some of the people in the group, "We were only trying to protect ourselves from outsiders. You have no idea how many people want to steal our research and technology. Admit that at least half of you wanted it for yourselves. We tried to warn off intruders, we posted how many signs at our gates to keep you people out? Did any of you read them?" Author said to the vengeful people standing there.

"Back then, I just lost my dog and wanted to ask you if you had seen her." The young girl said holding on to Trent's arm.

"Well how could I know that? We had to assume that all trespassers were after our stuff. Do you know how much all of this is worth?" Author waved a hand around to the room filled to the brim with scientific gear and machines. "Write down a whole bunch of zeros with a 2 at the front. That's not even including our research account we use to fund it all.”

"You could have asked." She said almost in a whisper.

"Tell me, honestly. Have you ever met a thief that tells the truth? 'Oh yeah sorry, just wanted to steal your shit.' When my dad was younger, he nearly lost all of the family's fortune from a gang of thieves that he actually used to employ. So Rasa and I never trusted anyone else with our stuff. Neither did we want anyone here for any reason. Don't go blaming me for showing up uninvited on the wrong doorstep.” Author said, more then a little pissed. His arms still felt like they were burning and it irritated him to no end because he knew that no house in either city had Aloe Vera for sunburns. "Can't read the stupid warning signs in the yard." He muttered angrily.

"Should have put up one that said, 'Trespassers will be shrunk." A guy laughed, hoping to alleviate the tension.

The people here now had read the numerous signs warning that all who trespass would be shot on sight. Ignoring them, they still went to the brother's house for their own reasons. They never thought that this would be the result for trespassing. And to be fair, the brothers never kidnapped anyone younger then 16, assuming that they we're not old enough to understand how serious the warning was. They even went out of their way to put evil looking devices on their property to scare off intruders, like full sized cannons and fake bear traps on the lawn out in the open. None of it actually functioned, but the imagery usually deterred people.

A long silence passed while the rest of the Reas gathered at Author's house.

"What's going on? I got your message." William said, one of the would be thieves.

"Author's having another tiff with his brother." Shauna said.

"Why is everything still frozen? This time is longer then the other freezes before."

Author frowned and faced the others, counting in his head to make sure that all of the Reas were there. But only counted 20 out of 32. "Whatever we discuss here, please relay to the other Reas, they need to know what's going on regardless what they want to do, I believe it's necessary to keep them informed."

"So what is going on Author? I heard shouting but couldn't understand any of it." Hubb said, one of Author's friends who was a door to door salesman that needed one more sale to break even. He understood Author’s side of things when they had a lengthy chat one day. It was actually thanks to Hubb that others were convinced that Author was one of them now. They probably would have done the same to protect their home and family.

Author smiled at Hubb, knowing that at least one of these guys had his back. "Rasa accidentally broke the bio-dome. He's fixing it right now over there past the shopping center on the north side of Vela. I think it will take him a few hours, maybe even a day. He sealed the panels up to keep our air inside the domes and he has frozen the models time so we don’t run out of air before he’s done fixing everything." Author said, gesturing to the lack of blue sky overhead, replaced with white ceiling tiles.

"Well isn't that nice of him." Trent spat on the ground.

"Yes it is, we would all suffocate in only 3 hours breathing that normal air. He bought us some time. Now shut up Trent. Go on, Author." Hubb said patting him on the back.

"Well... I was thinking of trying to take control of our helper arms that are in the corner." Author pointed to the west and beyond the now clear domes covering the cities, the Reas could see immense machines in the corner of the colossal lab, encompassing everything. There was also a wall of computers, two work stations that the brothers practically lived at as well as the power generator and environmental control units. A dust covered robotic arm rested in the corner, behind a tool box and computer tower. He wondered if it could get over those things to make it to the model without creating too much noise that would draw Rasa’s attention.

"You want to use those robotic arm thingies? To do what?" William said.

"Maybe he wants to use the arms to pick us all up and put us in the miniaturization platform. That tube thingy. To turn us all back to normal." Hubb suggested.

"You idiot, we can't all be brought back at once. That tube is big enough for only one normal sized person at a time. That means that only one of us could be enlarged back to normal before Rasa finds out about it."

"Not only that, we need to get the robot arm to turn on the machine using its control panel over there. We are not strong enough to do it ourselves at this size. I remember looking at it just before they shrunk me, some of the levers are 3 inches long, heh, that's taller then a two story house!"

"We will need to work together to bring back one person."

"So who do we pick to go? Who thinks they can take out Rasa and fix the rest of us?" Dominic said looking around.

"Well, he is Author’s brother, why not him."

"Why not Author? What?! Who was it that overpowered this little runt in the first place? Rasa was too strong for him but Rasa is not stronger then me. They only got me because it was both of them ganging up on me. No way that Rasa could take me down on his own." Trent said showing off his muscular physique with pride.

"But do you know how to operate the machines once Rasa is out of the picture? Are you smart enough to reprogram their computers?" Dominic asked.

"Not yet, but I do know that Author can't be expected to kill Rasa. He doesn't have the stomach for it." Trent sneered at Author.

"You are not gonna kill my brother! Screw you and your murderous idiocracy! He never killed anyone!" Author said rounding on the big man. He glared up into Trent's eyes and made a squishing motion with his thumb and forefinger in front of the big guys face. "Are you going to be a problem for me?" he said quietly growling.

"What, are you gonna have your younger brother do something horrible to me? Pssh. Just like that, you're too much of a coward to stand up to me on your own so you threaten to have Rasa do it for you." Trent said condescendingly.

"Don't tempt me." Author said gritting his teeth. "My brother may be a bastard but he's  _my_ bastard."

"Guys, guys. Calm down. We can't fight amongst ourselves. We’re all we have down here."

"No,  _we_ are all we have.” Shauna said to the others. “Like he just said, Author has that bastard over there. He is not one of us. He could choose to end this fiasco any time he wants but he wont." Shauna faced Author. "Why."

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you doing this to all of us. Just let Rasa have his toy model and tin people and let the rest of us go home. You're the real one that's keeping us here. Admit it." Shauna said pushing his shoulder with her fingers.

"Sorry but I agree with her, Author, even if Rasa wont let you free, there's no reason you can't tell him to let the rest of us go home." William said.

The others looked at Author and waited for him to reply. Instead Author stared right back at Trent and Shauna as the biggest troublemakers of the group and narrowed his eyes. He thought about what to do. He actually wanted to keep the Reas in the model as much as Rasa does. For the completion of their original goal. But at the same time Author sympathized with the Reas on their wanting to be free. He had to decide what to do now. To set them free or to keep them here and free the minds of the Faks.

"It's complicated." Author said flatly.

"It's not complicated at all! Just get on the horn with that bastard and tell him to let the rest of us go. What do you need us in here for anyway?" Trent roared.

Author thought to himself that the only way to advance the Faks is if they lived and worked with real people. All the programming in the world could not give them the insights and imaginations that real people can entice. He actually wished that he had more living people in the model but knew the Reas didn't want to hear that at all.

Author knew that the only way to get the big guy out of his face was to tell the truth, but not the whole truth... "In the end, it’s not up to me what happens. Look around. We are in a model. A big ass, complicated as hell model but it's still  _just a model_ . We are just tiny insignificant living things in this balsa wood world and there's nothing we can do to change that if we don't work together. Rasa is the one in charge because guess what... HE'S THE NORMAL SIZED HUMAN."

Author jabbed a finger towards the north where Rasa was working. "You and I and everyone else in here is just over one stupid inch tall! What do you want me to do? What  _can_ you expect me to do at just  _one inch tall_ ? Huh?! Attack his big toe? Maybe stick a sliver in his finger?" Author suggested. He looked over to the colossal figure that was leaning over the bio-dome, trying to replant some smaller versions of huge red oak trees that were taller then most of the buildings in the model.

Arthur stood back with his arms folded even though they started to hurt with the sunburn. "Just try it. If you think you have what it takes to kill my near invincible brother with your pathetic millimeter fists then have at it. Be my freakin' guest."

Trent grumbled at Author and sat down on the hood of the truck he arrived in.

"Remember that burning hot light that nearly baked everyone in this place just a half hour ago? That was our damned overhead light being turned on high. He could kill us all by accidentally hitting the stupid dimmer switch on the wall with an elbow. So it's not wise to piss him off or it's bye bye baby. Don't ask me for any pardons because the biggest one in the house wins." Author said staring at his opponents with a finger pointed upwards from his crossed arms.

For some reason the others had been unwilling to accept the fact that they were now so very fragile. They clung to some hope that they had a chance. Author knew better then anyone exactly how fragile and breakable they were. He had done the calculations, studies and figures and knew that there was virtually nothing in the real world that couldn't kill them with ease. Even most insects could take them out in the real world. There were a million ways to die in their house alone, without involving Rasa. Even if they did manage to leave the dome, talking about taking out that giant was a moot topic at best.

The distorted figure of Rasa moved around the room and past the model. Author looked up at him and frowned from his spot on 5th street and Elm. Apparently traveling like 1000 miles per hour, Rasa took a few hurried steps and passed the entire downtown shopping plaza. He headed for the factories that produced synthesized versions of cows and farm animals to be processed and fed to the synthetic people to power up their fuel cells. Real food for the Reas was delivered by an automated system once a month to the 'Last Leaf" organic store in Vela.

Rasa knelt down next to the model and worked on rewiring the synthetic factories to limit the pollution in the dome. Looking in all respects to be a smoking human Godzilla on the horizon.

Author shook his head and stuck out his arm towards the huge bobbing head with the disheveled and shaggy 'hairdo'. "That's  _my_ brother." He looked at the others. "I may not like him very much right now but I still love him. So don't even start talking about killing him. Because I will defend Rasa  _to the death_ ." Author said staring down the other Reas. Author was usually cool headed and methodical most of the time, so this resolute and unyielding shift in his demeanor was noticeable. He now seemed to tower over them in his determination.

"Could you kill the only family you have left?" Author asked them, looking into each ones eyes. He was trying not to get emotional but the others felt it.

One by one they looked up at Rasa's face that was sweating with frustration and worry. Rasa looked briefly at the model and frowned at it, saying, "Don't give up on me Arthur." He paused and scanned the streets, looking for the small moving, living people amongst the ones with no sign of life. "I wont give up on you." A loud hum distracted Rasa back to his chore and he risked electric shock to rewire the power source under the table supporting Argo.

"What the hell was that sound?" Hubb asked Author.

Author motioned for a few to come with him down the long street where Rasa was busy working. Hoping to let them see for themselves how much Rasa actually cared about the little people and that he was not some kind of monster to be killed. The rest of the Reas dispersed back to their homes with some taking the frozen timeline opportunity to go steal stuff from the stores.

As Author started to run down the street, 'monster' rung a bell and he needed to address that important pending issue with Rasa.

"He might not be there when we finally get over there." Some said as they jogged down the street. Author could tell that their minds were already set, their opinions wouldn't change so easily.

"So don't follow me." Author said huffing as he sprinted faster. "It's your choice. I'm not forcing you to do anything."

Half of them stopped and watched Author and the two that kept going.

"So what are we going to do?" Hubb asked, trying to keep up the pace with the younger man.

"Talk to him." Author waved a hand in Rasa’s direction.

"How?"

"Very loudly." Author said grinning.

It seemed as if the others had been right and Rasa was going to move on over to the other side of the room so Hubb and the other one stopped shortly before the end, turning back around to meet up with the group again. Rasa was just grabbing a wrench and pliers from his desk and returned to the power source underneath the model.

Only Author made it to the edge of the city and waved his hands for Rasa to notice. "Just like Rasa. Always intent on finishing the job without distractions." Author grumbled to himself. He found a nice red car parked in the middle of the street with a Fak at the wheel and the radio turned up loud to 9027 KM with the song 'Here it goes again'. He chuckled as he dragged the Fak out of the car and laid it carefully on the sidewalk. Author got in, buckled up his seat belt, adjusted the mirrors and seat to his size before hitting the gas pedal hard with both feet. Epitome of white knuckles driving, the car headed straight for the clear wall of the dome.

It managed to make a 'donk' sound next to Rasa's ear and he looked up at the model with a confused expression on his face. The model never 'donked' at him before. He scanned the area around his work area for the strange sound. Finally he noticed the smoke start to billow and rise from the car crash and leaned forward to have a look.

Author fell out of the driver’s side door and crawled away from the wreck in case it decided to explode.

"Arthur? Holy shit Arthur! Are you alright?"

The small figure made it over to a patch of grass and laid down on his back, breathing heavily and holding his forehead and stomach. Both ached but it was worth it. He felt like trashing something expensive and smiled at the completely totaled red Porsche

Rasa opened up the nearest huge panel to the dome and pulled over a toolbox to sit on so he could be more or less eye level with his brother. "There's less painful ways to get my attention. Or were you trying to kill yourself? Is this your way of getting back at me?"

"Don't flatter yourself Ras." Author yelled as loud as he could. He rolled over on the grass and sat Indian style.

Rasa removed the smoldering car and put it in his coffee cup on a small work stand. It sizzled and the black smoke ceased to spill out from it. Rasa wagged his fingertips in the air to cool them off. "Could have picked something cheaper if you were gonna do that."

"Bill me." Author shouted, laughing. "Hey wait, I think I actually bought that one... you got the Jags."

"Still, you always were the reckless one. Remember that time we took Dad’s land speeder for a joy ride?"

Author laughed and hung his head. He took a breath and shouted, "Yeah and if it weren't for the two foot dent you put in the side he wouldn't have found out about it."

"You were driving." Rasa pointed down, smirking.

"You distracted me." Author shouted. He then laughed and leaned back on the grass, more then a bit dizzy from the car wreck. He was glad that he bought the nice safer model of that car.

"So what is so important that you needed to do that? What do you want to talk about? I really need to get the air pumping again soon before you all pass out."

"We’re fine on that, but what I wanted to ask is if you removed the monsters from the underground areas yet. I only put them in as a joke, but now we have real people in here that can get hurt."

"Do you know where they all are?" Rasa asked leaning over to look at the complicated machinery under the table.

"Are you kidding? Would you go looking for a Balrog in the depths of hell?"

"I see your point. Yeah I can set up some mouse traps with meat in them down under so tell the others to stay away from there 'till I get them all. How many monsters did you put down there?"

Author looked over at the hatchway to Hades. "Can't remember now. At least eight."

"Ok I’ll set up ten traps. Anything else?"

"Oh yeah, there is one thing." Author shouted.

"What?" Rasa leaned in.

"Get me the hell out of here." Author said smirking.

"Can’t do that, but I can do this for ya." Rasa said and went over to his desk and rummaged through the drawers. He pulled something out of a cellophane wrapper and laid the huge contents on the street next to where Author was sitting.

"Enjoy." Rasa said as he smiled. He shut the panel again and went back to work on the bio-dome across the lab room.

"What an arse-hole." Author said as he kicked the lower black edge of an Orio cookie the size of a 9 ft diameter kiddy pool. "He knows I'm diabetic."

 

 


	3. Suffocation is not Motivation

C hapter Three:  Suffocation is not Motivation

 

 

 

A bout 2 months had passed since that day, and society under the domes started to crumble. The drastic changes Author had made doing his risky experiments completely disrupted the peace amongst the real people and the fake. Someone had overheard his and Rasa’s talk concerning the monsters lying in wait underground. 

At first the Reas and Faks are at war with each other but then they mutually decided to take it out on Author. He got word of the unrest from Hubb and had to go into hiding. Soon enough though, they found out where he was and hunted him down, chasing him to the Control house. Hubb and the others who had been on Author's side, misled the majority of people into other parts of the city but still there was a growing number of people arriving at his house. Together they tried to rock it back and forth from its foundation as more and more people show up to the scene.

"Damn it to fuckin hell, where the fuck is my phone?" Author proceeded to cuss and curse as he was busy locking and blocking his doors and windows with flimsy furniture. "Rasa where the hell are you? Taking a nap?" He looked out of the bay office viewing window where he could see the real room beyond the sky tinted dome.

He tried the microphone and when nothing could be heard he started to quickly rewire the circuits in his Control office to make it rise 2 stories above the rest of the house.

A few people in the angry mob were attempting to climb the high roof of his house while others were throwing rocks at the rising Control room office. Author finally found his emergency phone and punched the number for his brother. He heard a slow faint ring from outside of the dome on his 'real time' transceiver.

"Pick up Rasa, pick up the damned phone Rasa..." He saw his brother stir slowly on the bed he moved into the adjacent spare room.

Author had to set up his phone to a quarter speed so Rasa could understand what he was saying. Otherwise it would be too fast to pick out individual words. Author couldn’t wait to have it set to Rasa’s real time of seven times slower because he might not have that long for Rasa to act. His own phone would record Rasa words and then speed them up so Author could understand the incredibly slow speech. Author just hoped that he had the several minutes it would take to get the short message through.

He saw several more people show up with bats, bashing in every window on the ground floor. “Pick up the phone Rasa!” He shouted as he saw a large arm sneak out from under the covers from the bed and pick up the red emergency phone from the wall close to the model.

"Mmrrrhhhh... hhhheeeellllllloooooo?" Rasa said yawning slowly in a very deep voice.

"Rasa! Get me the hell out of here. Get off that bed and come and get me!" Author shouted as the Faks and Reas were trying to tear apart the walls. One had the idea of ramming his car repeatedly at the hydraulic support pole for the office. Each slam shook the office and violently knocked him around.

"Mmmmm wwwwhhhaaaaa? Wwwhhhooo iiissss tttthhhhiiiissss?" Rasa said rubbing his eyes and checking the time on his C phone on the nightstand.

"It’s me! Who else would call you this late? Get your ass over here and help me! Or else your gonna be an only child!" Author shouted into the phone. He could see Rasa react to the words he had just said, but almost a minute later. Rasa frowned when he heard ‘only child’. Author knew that would get his attention and had to wait for the response.

"Ooohhhh. Hhhhaaaannnngggg oooonnnn." Rasa practically fell off of the bed and stumbled over to the cities looking sleepy eyed over each one. His unnaturally slow guttural voice perfectly matched the tired look on his face, and did nothing to assure confidence. "Wwwhhhheeerrrreeee aaaarrrreeee yyyyoooouuuu?"

"At my house, you know, the one those assholes are trying to set fire to!"

"Yyyeeeaaaahhh, Iiii sssseeeee yyyaaaa nnnnoooowww." Rasa said putting Author on speaker phone. He adjusted the time field controls to wind down and turn off in order to freeze the Faks in place so he could open the dome.

Author was grateful to be around by the time the model was returned to real time. He crawled over to the viewing window and risked a look upwards. Rasa was standing bleary eyed in front of the Control house in an old t-shirt and jeans, leaning over the house to try and see where Author was exactly. “Hey.” Author said into his phone and waved an arm out the window at him. He recoiled it as some rocks were thrown up at that window from below.

"Hey Arth. You know, that's weird, I thought you said there were only 32 Reas in there with you. Why are there like a 60 now?" Rasa said, trying to shoo away the people from the house without actually touching them. Any rash poke or prod could injure or even kill the miniature people. "Get the hell off of his house." He said to them as they started shooting lead shot at his hands. "Did you teach them how to build simple firearms?"

"Maybe, I fail to see why that's such a big deal right at the moment." Author said into the phone while hiding in his chair and bringing up his knees and feet so they wouldn't be shot from underneath. The floor of his office wasn’t all that bulletproof in some spots but his chair was invincible for some reason.

"HURRY!" Bits of office were blown away by the shotguns blasting apart the floorboards and ceiling over Author's head. Only three walls held up the removable roof and were being pelted and sprayed with bullets and rocks from all angles.

"Ok hang on, I think I left my metal cutters over here somewhere..." Rasa spread out his free hand under the office to block the attack from those still on the ground. "Oww, shit, that actually stings a bit. Ok, here we go." He said as he had a firm grip on the whole office with his left hand overhead and began cutting the hydraulic support pole with the metal cutters in his right hand. He snipped away at the pole close to the underside of the office floor. The walls groaned with the tension from his fingers, and plaster fell all around from the ceiling. Rasa decided to peel and flick the roof from the office to make it fall to the ground, chasing away those underneath without killing them. Recovering his overhead grip on the office with splayed fingertips on the three walls. His hand was just big enough to hold the office’s edges.

Author had to hold on for dear life as the whole office twitched and jerked intensely back and forth as Rasa snipped away at the hydraulics and power cables. He thought it was free and lifted it up but missed one wire which yanked the office to its side, tossing Author against the wall.

"Ahhhggh!" Author cried in pain, curling up on the wall then slid down to the floor again as the office was up-righted.

"Sorry 'bout that, ok, here we go." With a final snip it was free and Rasa carefully carried the whole Control office over to his desk and set it down as gently as possible. The hydraulic stub in the center of the office made it tilt slightly to one side but it was tolerable for now. Rasa leaned forward over it and was glad his brother was still alive and went to seal up the dome again.

"Arthur, it's a disaster down there, what did you do to make them want to burn down your house?"

Author glanced over to the model across the room and saw a thin line of black smoke rise from there, hoping it was a trick of the eye.

"I invented guns remember?" Author said sarcastically into the phone and laid down on his office floor. Holding his left arm he checked to see if it was bleeding from landing on the wall just a moment ago. It felt as if it was torn apart from the inside and he wondered why it didn’t hurt as much now. “Oh, right, adrenaline is blocking out the pain. It’s gonna kill later though...” Author looked over to the domed cities again, and sure enough, there's a fire on his old street. Rasa had to sprits down his smoldering Control house with a spray bottle for the bio-dome that simulated rainfall.

"Go away little freaks. All the buildings are wood, so don't set any more fires because I have half a mind to let it all go up in flames, or sic the garden hose on you." Rasa said to the small figures who continued to shoot in his direction. "Damn Arthur they sure are ticked about something!" He said and fine tuned the water bottle to shoot more direct lines of water. Spraying them up against buildings and down to the ground with the blasts of water. He let up only to shout, "I said piss off! Try hurting my brother again and I'll squish you all!" raising a vengeful hand to the rioters.

"Don't do that Rasa..." Author said into his phone.

Rasa spun around to face his desk and said, "They try to kill you and you don't want revenge?"

"I dunno, maybe, just not now. Can you help me out a bit?"

"Yeah." Rasa shook his head at the rioters, sealed up the dome and programmed the weather controls to let it rain heavily over both cities to keep the threat of fire down.

Rasa walked over to his work desk and took a seat in front of the small office. To fix the lean in it, he carefully placed a few notebooks on either side of the pole stump so it was now level with the desk. Author did not even try standing up for that, he would have just lost balance anyway. Rasa searched around his desk for a spare microphone so Author could free up his hands. His left was holding the emergency phone and his right hand was holding the injured left forearm that he fell on. Rasa found one for his computer that had a very long stem on it and angled it just above the office so Author could speak anywhere and be heard.

"Can you hear me?" Author said shouting up to the white bulb at the end of the long stem.

"Yeah, clear enough. Am I too loud for ya?" Rasa said lowering his voice a little, as it seemed it was hurting his ears.

"Nah, you're alright." Author said trying to find a scrap of fabric somewhere in his office to make a sling.

"What's wrong?" Rasa asked when he heard the stifled grunts of pain every time he moved. Rasa brought over a rather large magnifying glass attached to a scissor stand and angled it down to his brother so he could see him more clearly. Then got out the x-ray scanner from a desk drawer and did a quick once over Author's whole body. It displayed a three dimensional image of his bones, muscles, organs and skin and flashed a warning light indicating a fracture on Author’s left arm.

"Yeah, thanks so much for the radiation." Author said referring to the scanner. "Never did see what that does to minis. I better not grow a third eye." Author laughed lightly then grunted at his arm. He muttered to himself about being 'down for the count' from this injury but still hoped that all is not lost.

"What can I do to help?" Rasa asked as he leaned forward.

"I could use a pain killer for one.” Author said holding his left forearm.

Rasa brought over his shoebox of pills and put them in front of Author. Pulling out some extra strength this and that and had Author point out the ones he wanted.

“We ran out of that stuff they gave you for your wisdom teeth?” Author leaned over trying to read the labels behind some twenty foot tall bottles.

“Lemme check.” Rasa said and found the bottle. He pulled out a pill and with a razor blade, cut it apart and spilled the white granules all over the office floor. “Ok, you are about one seventieth my height but not weight, you were 5ft 4, and how much did you weigh?"

Author just looked at him. His current weight was the only factor, and it was about half an ounce. The whole pill was 2 feet long to him and he tried to do the math in his head, but it was clouding over from pain.

"What's the percent on size difference in regards to pills? I think you should take that equivalent from the pill. Like, four grains autta do it. Try two to start...” Rasa said using the razor blade to make a thin line of the powder. He thought it looked more like a line of cocaine then pain killer. "Don't sniff this, it'd just get stuck in your nose."

Author laughed at him and took a handful at once. It turned to a thick paste in his mouth and he had some trouble swallowing.

“Don’t over do it!” Rasa said and used the razor blade to remove the rest of the grains off of the office floor to the desktop. He then blew the rest of the powder off to take away temptation.

“That shit knocked me on my ass when I was taking it. What are you thinking?” Rasa scolded.

“I’m thinking that when they make pills, most of the ingredients are filler. Got any more of them?” Author shouted, wiping off his mouth.

“Later, later, see if that works first.” Rasa said dusting the rest of the powder from the cracks in the desk. “Junkie.” He laughed. “Anything else I can get you for your arm?”

“You can get a sling for me I guess, nothing else you can do there goliath."

"Maybe.... hang on, there's something I've been working on last year, before all of this... be right back." Rasa said getting up from his seat and pushing against the desk which knocked Author right off his feet to his sore butt.

"Easy.. ass." Author muttered. He took off his over shirt and folded it in front of him on the floor. He attempted to tie it with his right hand and left foot when Rasa plopped a 1.5 inch weird looking human shaped robot in front of him.

Author nervously scooted away from it. "What is that?"

"It’s my old prototype for exploring the model using an avatar. It didn't work as well as just going there in person so I didn't mention it. It is like an advance version of virtual reality in micro reality." Rasa grinned and put on a helmet with large goggles, a pair of gloves with wires running down the length of the fingers and wrists, as well as a pair of wired up boots. Turning it on, it hummed at Author and the robot laying next to him came to life.

"Whoa damn. Is that you?" Author stood up and looked deep into the dual cameras for eyes and a mesh speaker for the mouth piece. The Faks in the city were also robots but with their own individual artificial intelligence, they also looked perfectly human. This robot looked like it belonged back in the 50’s horror films.

"Yeah, how cool is this?" Rasa swung his arms up and nearly punched Author with the small robots arms but he dodged it.

"Careful! Jeez, how many times have you used that thing?" Author looked up at his huge brother in the gear, not comfortable with addressing the strange robot in front of him.

"Not lately but it'll do. Now, where's that sling you just had?" The robot looked around and found it on the office floor. He tied it up carefully at one end and all the while Author kept looking at his pantomiming brother several hundred feet away.

"You sure this is safe?" Author held out his injured arm reluctantly.

"Absolutely, just tell me when its grip is too hard. I'm grabbing nothing but air over here and it is hard to tell when I make contact with stuff."

"Oh buggar me." Author said shutting his eyes. Taking a great leap of faith that it wasn't going to just finish the job and pull off his arm altogether. The small robot was slow and meticulous at wrapping up his arm and looping it carefully over Author's neck. "Ok, that wasn't so bad. What else can it do?" He said adjusting the folds in fabric to be more comfortable.

"Anything I can do but better because I can make all of its joints spin 360. It is also twice as strong as the Reas so we can have this little guy go into the model and get whatever it is that made them want to kill you. I suspect it’s something completely immoral and illegal."

"Maybe."

"So does this mean that you give up? I mean, there's no way they'll let you back into the dome now. I can’t hunt down and replace every single Rea or Fak. I only have this one prototype and if they gang up on it like they did you, it will break for sure. So tell me what you invented down there and I’ll just go directly to it and get it for you."

"Not a chance." Author said to the robot, then faced his enormous brother.

"So what, you want to stay miniature forever? But now with no home of your own? It is not safe out here for you."

"I know that, what I did down there is.. it’s not own-able."

"The hell does that mean?"

"I don't own it, and you can't own it. I refuse to give it up." Author said as he sat down in his miniature office chair.

"I'm sorry I don't think I caught that last part." Rasa said getting annoyed. He moved the end of the lamp pole sized microphone down to Author's face. "Say that again please." Rasa had his fists to his sides.

Author leaned forward into the microphone and said quite clearly. "You can't have it." And leaned back again in his office chair. The pain meds had just started kicking in full swing and he relaxed his whole body.

"Stubborn little asshole. What am I supposed to do with you? You'll die of suffocation out here in less then three hours but I can't send you back in there with those animals running all over the cities. That would be the same as murder."

"Do whatever you need to, you can't have them." He folded his good arm over his bad one.

"Them? Them who?"

Author cursed himself for slipping up like that. "My research notes. They probably already burned up in my house."

Rasa stormed off to the city model, turned off the rain simulator, opened the hatch and poked at the small house with the end of his pencil, moving debris around and squinting to see past the smoke. He brought over the small robot to search closer to the ground. But as Author already knew, he wouldn't find anything.

"There's no way you didn't save a backup copy somewhere." Rasa said returning to the desk and lifted Author’s chair right out of the office floor where it was bolted in place for safety, setting it and Author down next to his keyboard.

Initially, Author thought he was going to be crushed in that huge gloved hand but it moved on and soon the robot was busy rewiring and charging up the power supply for the tiny computer bank.

Author took the opportunity to wander around the immense desktop, climbing over wires and tools strewn about the place. Seeing what his brother was up to. He couldn't climb up onto the keyboard so he clambered over the power cords to read some notes on the messy desktop.

"Careful Bro, some of those cables are hot to the touch." Rasa said glancing over to make sure the little guy was ok.

Author saluted him and kept on poking around. He came upon a glass jar with a gray lump inside it. He cautiously walked up to it and wiped off some of the grim that accumulated next to the bottom so he could see inside.

"Stay away from it Art. I haven't been able to tame it yet. I was gonna give it to you as a pet."

"What is it?" Author cupped his hands to the jar and nearly fell backwards when he saw what it was.

"I call it Sparky." Rasa smiled and went back to work, hacking the miniature computer’s systems.

"You call a deformed cybernetic mouse 'Sparky'?" Author said jogging back to Rasa's robot.

"Yeah, and not without good reason." Rasa said laughing. Making spark noises with his mouth. "Have a cookie." He pulled out a package of Orios the size of a two storey house and set one down for him.

"Is this the same bag? Oh yeah, 3 months went by for me but for you, probably just over 2 weeks. In that sense I held out way longer then you did in our standoff."

"But you still caved in and wanted out." Rasa said.

"I didn't cave! I was nearly burned at the stake!"

"Not my fault." Rasa said sitting back down at the desk and eating a few cookies at a time. Wet crumbs fell from his lips to his goatee and made Author want to gag.

Author went over to the microphone and as motherly as possible, said, "Chew with your mouth shut. It looks like your eating a swamp monster." He kicked some of the larger crumbs off of the desk to the floor far below. Feeling very brave for standing so close to the more then vertical drop-off. Taller then most cliff faces in the world.

"Speaking of swamp monsters," Rasa wiped his mouth and beard with his fingers. "Did any of the monsters you put in there get caught in the mouse traps?"

"Yeah, only a few. The Faks stirred them all up when they mined too far down. I told you we should have put down a bigger hunk of rock sealing the mines. They got too close to the power source and all hell broke loose." Author said standing next to the robot. He held onto his chest as it felt like it was very dry.

Author held out his good hand and flexed his muscles a few times, his body was feeling numb. He wasn’t sure if it was from the pain medicine or not. He ignored it, "I think that's what started the war in the first place. The Reas told the Faks that they weren't real people and they went crazy. The Reas wanted the Faks to go fight the monsters for them because they were expendable. It didn't help matters when some Rea over heard me talking to you about putting the monsters down there in the first place, so that's when they had the brilliant idea to kill me to appease the monsters." Author cleared his throat and rubbed his forehead. "They wouldn't listen to me when I said I didn't put them in to hurt anyone just scare them off. Otherwise they'd get themselves killed from exposure to the power source, but people don't listen to reason."

"Live and learn. Monsters don't scare away anyone, just make them curious." Rasa said without looking up. Some time passed while Author waited for his brother to stop fiddling with the computer and to start talking again like they always had. He became very tired from the Vicodin and reclined in his chair for a little while.

Neither noticed how much time had passed.

Author woke up with a jolt and began coughing and couldn't stop. His eyes felt like they were burning and he curled up as he sat in his chair. He drank some water from a bottle cap that Rasa put out for him but still he kept coughing.

"What's wrong?" Rasa asked as he anxiously aimed the magnifying glass over him.

"...bad... air..." Author said between gasps and coughs. He looked over to the small computer Rasa's robot was at and shook his head up at his brother’s face. Insisting that he wasn't going to give up his research.

Rasa grit his teeth and said, "Even now you're just going to sit there and die? Just give me the back up files and I can wipe out the Reas and Faks from the cities and you can breath there!" Rasa pleaded with his brother’s instinct to live.

Author laid down onto the desk, looked up and smiled weakly. He said a very quiet "no."

Rasa became angry and stood up from the desk, pounding it with his fists, jostling everything and toppling some gadgets that fell all around Author’s gasping figure. His eyes were rolling as he struggled to breath, clawing at the desktop with mouth agape.

"Damn you." Rasa said quietly and as carefully as he could, he scooped up his brother onto his trembling hand and opened the bio-dome hatch with the other hand. Gently placing him on the fern covered ground. Then shutting the hatch and tunnel doors so none of the Reas or Faks could get to him.

He pressed his face to the glass and watched as Author started to seize up and spasm.

"Breath damn it! Breath that air you stubborn asshole!" He punched the side of the dome sending deafening vibrations all throughout. Slowly, Author stopped moving and Rasa had to really get close to see that he was finally breathing peacefully after a few tense minutes.

"Fuckin A." Rasa said exhaustively, but smiled at the sleeping figure. "He really isn't gonna give it up. He would rather die then give in. So now what do I do..." He said sitting back down in the leather chair that used to be Author's. Fingering the stab holes in the arms he looked over to the cities and frowned at them. He scooted his chair closer to them and looked at the rioting people in the miniature rainstorm. They couldn’t set any fires so they took bats and hammers to everything breakable.

"There should only be 32 at most that are able to move now that the model's turned off. How many are here now..." He pointed down to the streets and counted up at least 50 rioters. Glancing at another dozen or so elsewhere in the cities. "Is this what he meant by 'them'? Not research notes but them?"

Rasa got out the x-ray wand and waved it over a few large groups of people and noticed that half of them had metal in place of bones but in all other respects seemed to be human. He then decided to scan the whole model and see exactly how many there were. But first, he wanted to remove the Faks that weren't moving. Convinced that they were still fake. To be safe he chose to put them in a tall bucket that they couldn't climb out of and started gathering them up from the streets. Counting and grouping as he went.

Eventually he had to section the smaller city Vela from the larger then put in cardboard walls to keep the moving people from circling around. He needed two more buckets for the Faks and once he collected the potential real people he put them in a different cubical holding container with siphoned air in it from the bio-dome so they wouldn't suffocate.

Once he got the majority of the people he sent in his robot avatar to round up the ones still inside all of the houses and buildings. It took substantially longer but he had to be thorough.

Like counting pennies on the floor, he gathered and grouped together similar people and counted them all up on a notepad. He knew how many Faks there are, and how many Reas, the question now was how many created combinations of the two were there.

Meanwhile Author was surprised to wake up in the bio-dome and laughed at his brother's kind heart as fern leaves tickled his face. He got to his feet and tapped the glass dome with a knuckle and tried to open the hatch to the smaller city, finding it locked. Peering past the doors down the long tube connecting the bio-dome to Vela he could just make out his brother doing something in the model. He walked over to a southern section of his bio-dome and cleared away some plants and vines from the transparent window and watched Rasa reach into Vela.

With horror he saw Rasa pull out several people from a house and plop them into a cube with others who were all frantically pounding along the clear walls for release.

"Shit shit, No! Damn it Rasa, leave them alone!" He hunted around in his pockets for his cell phone but knew it was on the huge desk along with his office. "Damn it, he figured it out."

After several hours, the search and seizure of the two towns was complete and Rasa looked over to the bio-dome where Author had written a message in mud on the glass.

Rasa smirked at it and said. "I promise not to kill them Brother. I'm not a monster." Rasa tapped the glass of the cube as he walked over to the bio-dome and said, "You've been busy in there. I think you need a new nickname, Doctor Frankenstein."

Author motioned for Rasa to get closer to hear him talk, but Rasa just licked the tip of his finger, stuck it to the miniscule cell phone from the tiny office and lowered it down to Author from the overhead hatch.

Author glared at Rasa. He plucked it from the dirty fingertip and wiped the phone off several times with his sleeve of the saliva. It reeked of the tobacco from Rasa's cigarettes. 'He must have had one recently. Such a filthy habit.' Author thought and was disgusted at the smell but had to use it. He dialed the number.

Rasa let it ring for a few seconds just to tease him. "Hello? Who is this?" He smiled with the cube snug under his other arm.

"Your older and  _wiser_ brother. Who is this?"

"Your filthy rich and famous little brother." He held onto the cube with both hands closer to his face and smiled at the frightened people inside, backing up as far as they could.

"You can't use those people for fame." Author said sternly.

"Seems to me I can do whatever I want with them, seeing as how they are just advanced cyborgs. You did good work on them, they sure do seem like real people, even though they  _are not_ . I don't want to have to go over this whole thing again with you." Rasa set the cube on his desk and put Author on speakerphone.

"It's wrong and you know it Rasa."

"Wrong. Like creating people without souls wrong? I think what you did is more blasphemous then immoral." Rasa said scanning the box and making sure the original real people were separated from the cyborgs. Picking through them with a careful finger and pulling out the suspected real humans to inspect with the x-ray wand. Setting them down carefully into the right holding containers. "Good thing I don't believe in God." Rasa said counting up the remainder again, smiling the whole time.

"That's a shame because he believes in you." Author said with his other hand on the glass.

"Why did you make people? I mean, you'd think we had enough people in the world, why create more?" Rasa turned around and faced Author.

"Why do some parents have children?" Author suggested that viewpoint.

"What? So you're saying these are your kids?"

"In a way. I saw the intelligence and emotion that they had. And honesty and kindness."

"Kindness?! Like when they tried to kill you, their own creator?"

"All kids act up against their parents, they're just testing their boundaries." Author said gazing at the cube.

"So why don't I put you back in there and you can teach them how to act properly." Rasa moved the cube closer to the bio-dome with a playfully sadistic grin on his face.

Author raised his hands up, "No! No that's ok. Maybe after they calm down about the whole monster in the closet thing..."

"You're just a masochistic Dr. Frankenstein. Heh, what do you get when you cross Faks with Reas?.... Fa-reaks." Rasa said smiling. Then had a stray thought, "Come on, lighten up there Brother. Tell you what, let's play a game of chess. Faks vs. Reas this time. You pick which humans you want. Should be more fun with live ones." He said looking around for their old chess board.

"Not really feeling like playing Rasa. Don't think they would like the game either." he felt sorry for the apprehensive people.

"You must really love creating things that detest you. Just rest assured, I never did hate you." Rasa put his hand on the glass bio-dome. He looked down at Author, and then at the real people in the other container. All of the Reas were watching his every move with stark palpable fear. Convinced he was going to hurt or even kill them in the most horrible ways now that he had them out of the model where they had actually felt safer. The ones that were responsible for the assault on Author were the most frightened. Some started to argue about the possibility that Rasa was going to sell them as well as the cyborgs. Others kept insisting that if they started trouble again then they would be the first to die.

Rasa frowned at the panicking bunch of Reas, and then looked back to Author for some kind of idea on how to keep them calm in there. But was depressed even more so when he saw a similar look of fear in Author.

Rasa ducked down his head slightly to one side, "If I let you out, can we just discuss this like normal brothers. I dislike the whole, looking down to you."

"You can't help it. You've been looking down at me ever since you turned 15. Twenty-five years later, you're still taller then me." Author attempted a joke to placate him.

"You know what I mean. You're just so helpless that small. This is no way to have a fair and equal sided discussion." Rasa said kneeling down on the floor to face him more eye to eye. "Maybe we can come to an understanding?"

"Potentially. What are you thinking?" Author asked.

"Well, if I get you back to normal, are you honestly going to talk to me as peaceably as we are now? Or are you gonna go for my throat the second you get out of that thing."

"You'll just have to let me go and see." Author folded his arms. "What would you do in my position."

"Huh, let's see what I had done to you so far. I kidnapped my older brother, held him hostage for over three months without cable or decent food. Sorry about that, it's hard to make food small enough for y'all to eat easily. I burned you with the overhead light,... oh then I broke your arm and watched you nearly suffocate to death right here on my desk." Rasa tapped the desktop then looked guiltily at Author.

"You forgot the part where you saved my life from those people over there. And then you saved me again putting me in here when I was too blindly stubborn to give in when we were arguing." Author said sitting down. "And you also wanted to give me a pet mouse. I don't know why, you know I'm somewhat allergic..."

"Shoot, that's right. You're diabetic and allergic to animal dander. Anything else I'm forgetting about you?"

"You forgot forgiving." Author looked up and smiled. "I forgive you Rasa."

"So I can have my brother back? No hard feelings?"

"Just get me out of this place. I'm tired of being locked up." Author knocked on the hatch to the bio-dome. "After this, we get rid of this damned model." Author said.

"What really? I thought you’d been the one that wanted to build it in the first place. It’s been so long, I can't really remember who started it..."

"I'm over it. Let's just sell it and the Faks to some rich wacko. Let them deal with it. I'm tired of looking at it."

"I agree with you there Arthur. I couldn't stand being without you for these past 2 weeks. May have been months for you but it felt like years for me." Rasa started up the machine to bring Author back to his normal size, flipping a few more switches, the machine was ready to go.

"Come over to the panel, I'm gonna send down a bowl to pick you up, don't want to risk injuring you further."

"Just make it a clean one, I don't want to come back smelling like ramen noodles. Why do you eat those anyway? We can afford any kind of food you could dream of and you eat college kids carbs."

"I never had to go to that college, we learned way more at home, but still, I eat ramen noodles to feel more like everyone else. I know, it's stupid but you should try the 'simple' lifestyle once in awhile. Live without luxuries just to see what it is like."

"No thank you, maybe later..." Author said thoughtfully walking over to the bowl and hopping up the rim. He scooted down to the bottom as Rasa angled it so he wouldn't fall out.

"Right... later." Rasa said gently carrying it over and laying the bowl down in the machine, tilting it on its side so Author could slide out.

"Ok, I'm good to go. Wish me luck." Author said making sure he stood in the center of the inside circular platform of the machine on an ‘x’ engraved on the sweet spot.

"Good luck." Rasa said and slid the door to the machine shut. He happily turned it on.

The next and last thing Rasa saw, was a fist to his face.

 

 

 

 


	4. Sped up Time-out

C hapter Four:  Sped up Time-out

 

 

 

R asa awoke to city streets made of fine grain sandpaper, houses made of balsa wood, and a sky that was not a sky at all.

"Sorry I had to do this little brother." Author's voice boomed as he peered down to the street below where Rasa was just waking up.

"I thought we could talk face to face! You said you forgave me!" Rasa shouted up to the enormous looming figure.

"I forgave, didn't mean I would forget." Author said flatly. "You asked me what I would do in your place. Looks like its the same damned thing you did." Author frowned and stroked his broken arm. "I'll let you out after this heals, then we can talk face to face when we are equally matched and ready. For now, I don't think I can trust you, so I'm gonna keep you in there till you understand the value of trust, love and patience."

"I understand! I understand Arthur! You can let me out now, I promise I wont sell the people. I swear on our parent’s graves!"

"I know you wont. ‘Cause I'm setting them all free." Author said and shut the panel to the dome, allowing the micro oxygen to remain inside.

He first looked up the codes and commands for the cybernetic clones that had replaced the real people in the real world, then turned on the machine that created them and hit the ‘recall’ button. Sending a signal to every cybernetic clone they had made to return back to base, to their estate house. Once there, the vehicles they came in could wait outside for their original owners.

Author then walked up to the miniaturization tube and got the machine warmed up again. It had been a some time because Author had to go grab a few things before attempting this next tricky job solo. Gently picking up something from the clear glass cube, he put it down carefully in the machine. He happily brought back the little girl who was looking for her dog in their yard.

"Thank you Author." The girl said with tears in her eyes, hugging him again and again. “Thank you, Thank you...”

"Better get going, there's someone waiting for you at home." Author said nudging her lightly.

Raucous exultant cheers were actually heard coming from the cube's walls as the other Reas understood and overwhelmingly approved of what Author was doing.

"Arthur!" Rasa shouted, unable to think of anything else to say. Pleading to be let out would be useless, but he tried anyways.

Author ignored the fake cities and next brought back Hubb and the 7 others that had stood by his side during the rough times. He offered each of them a substantial amount of money as a reward. He knew they didn't have to stay, and was fine with that, thinking that it was too much to ask from his former captives. He was more then grateful for their help and support when he needed it, like right now in dealing with the riff raff.

Hubb hefted a large shotgun up to the more vengeful people and the other 7 allies would escort each one away from the premises one at a time to either their homes or prison should they want to continue to fight with any of them. The majority of the Reas were simply grateful to be back to normal and couldn’t wait to get out of that house. The very real threat of being sold by Rasa was an eye opener and they took their second chance at life with open arms. Forgiving Author and putting the hard feelings aside. Author knew that Rasa only wanted to sell the Cyborgs but let the Reas think that they were in the ‘for sale’ box as well. It helped get them out of the house and never want to return again. They had to swear to keep the Tubris house and all the things that happened a secret before Author would let them out of the cube, and brought back to normal. No one would believe their story anyway and instead of looking crazy, they wanted to keep quiet as much as Author needed them to be.

Some of the Reas's copied clones never showed up but Author could not be concerned about that right now. He wanted to take care of the original 32 Reas first, before the ones he created. One by one, the original real humans were re-enlarged and sent home until it was late in the day. Eventually getting to the bottom of the barrel, his least favorite person. He stared at the figure for awhile, debating what to do. Doing some deep soul searching to see if he really wanted to let this one go free.

Author reluctantly nodded to Hubb and set that one particular person inside the resizing tube. As soon as the all clear light came on he opened the door slowly.

"Sorry about the inconvenience there big guy. No hard feelings?" Author said as he lifted a mean looking gun to Trent's large chest. Hubb motioned for him to leave before he said or did anything stupid. Trent grudgingly stared at Author and turned heel to leave the lab with Shauna, William and a few other people.

To each of the people that were kidnapped, he promised an expensive going away present to persuade them to leave peaceably, and warning to never speak of this or his house again. The money he offered all of the Reas to stay quiet would only be awarded them after they had proven that they could remain confidential about what happened. He had several of his allies take care of that business, keeping tabs on all of the Reas to make sure they were ok. If they returned with ill intentions, he would have every right to shoot them as trespassers and thieves. He sent the password code and instructions on how to return the cloned replicas if, for some reason, the cybernetic clones could not return on their own.

The Reas had no qualms about sending the doppelgangers back to the brother's house because there is only room enough for one of them in the real world.

The last one brought back to normal again, the work was just about done. Author said farewell to his 8 friends, and they kept an eye on his house for a long time into the night to make sure that no one returned, looking for trouble or revenge. Hubb was given one of the 3 jet black limos from the model (re-sized back to normal of course) and he gladly volunteered to keep watch over the house all night outside. Author invited him to the guest room to sleep if he wanted, but Hubb missed the cool night air, and insisted on keeping watch outside.

Author smiled at the limo on the street, returning downstairs to the lab room. He staggered over to the model and yawned at it. He didn't spot Rasa anywhere, but didn't feel like looking for him either.

"Well, I think that was the last of them. All depends on if you were thorough in your search earlier for the Faks and Reas." Author said casually to the model. He checked the time-day-month clock hanging on the wall and then looked at his own watch. Rewinding his wristwatch back to match the rest of the normal world. Over 3 months passed for him, but just 13 days for the rest of the world.

This certainly wasn't the first time he had to reset his watch and wondered how old he and Rasa really were. They rarely kept track of all the days that passed under the fast time, and it certainly added up over the years that they had been working on it. Author sure felt older then what the calendar on the wall indicated.

"45 years... and then some." He shook his head and then went to the hand sink on the left side of the room. Washing his face and hands he stared hard at his image in the mirror. The time spent in there almost made him look several years older rather then just 3 months. His dark brown hair was getting long and almost scraggly with noticeable gray hairs peeking out everywhere. He let his facial hair grow out but decided to shave it all in the morning. He did not like the mountain man look. Author's green eyes looked tired and the bags under them did not help.

He rubbed his sore arm again and took another Vicodin as the first was wearing off. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he would glance at the model behind him. It was odd looking at it with nothing moving inside, Rasa was in there, but he was just one person in two cities. The emptiness made him a little sad, like one chapter had ended in his life.

A long, full chapter but still, it had to end. He knew that now. Rasa needed to learn the same lessons he had. Author knew his own weakness was seeing others in any kind of pain and would cave in too soon if he left the model in real time. Rasa needed to be alone for awhile to understand things better. Author nodded firmly at his image and strode over to the controls for the temporal force field which influenced time inside the model.

Looking drowsily over to Argo where he had left Rasa, he said, "Well, Ras, I'm beat. Sun just went down but I think it's time for bed. G-night." Author went back over to the control board and turned on the entire model before leaving the lab room.

The two city domes vibrated for a few minutes from the power source just underneath the ground that Rasa walked on. He looked up to the dome as it changed from the ambient overhead lights of the lab beyond to a darkening blue sky. The fake sun lit up the sky for only a moment as it turned on, then 'set' in the west. The streets were just now drying from when Rasa made it rain heavily to keep the rioting fires down. The fake clouds did not come back because they had completely depleted their water stores. It would be a little while before the water could drain from the cities and condense into the rain simulators again.

Rasa walked along the streets. It was eerily quiet and he wondered if it was just a set up or an ambush waiting to happen. The model had not been so still and silent in many years. He waited nervously for the gang of rioters to round the next corner or the next house as he walked. But no one came. The automated street lights all blinked on and scared him shitless as he thought that someone in the model had turned them on. He waited for hours for the attack that never came. Rasa wandered around the whole of Argo, the larger city and found nothing. No movement. No sound besides the machines in the huge real room.

He had a pang of fear that the monsters Author had put in had begun hunting him down right now. Convinced they were going to eat him alive should he let down his guard to sleep that night. He broke into the penthouse room of the tallest sky scraper so he could look down at the rest of the city. Gaining a better vantage point. Leaving the curtains open he wondered if he should shut them instead. Then after shutting them, he knew that if he couldn't see the city, then the monsters could sneak up on him.

He went back down to the lobby and looked around for anything that could be used as a defense weapon but found none. Rasa then remembered the rioters had guns because Author introduced them to the people. It was anyone's guess why he taught them how to make guns. Then figured it was probably to keep the peace, give the people something to defend themselves with against the monsters. But, those guns, if there were any left intact, were probably at the Control house all the way to the north side of Vela.

Too far to go so late at night with frightening monsters abound. So he took a few heavy tool boxes from the maintenance room in the hotel and actually boarded up his penthouse room from the inside as if zombies were going to attack. He pulled over the king size bed to the large window and sat rigidly upright in it for the longest time. Holding onto a pair of binoculars he found while wandering around the city, and sipping from a bottle of whiskey he stole from the bar in the lobby.

The longest night of his life passed by with disturbing thoughts running through his mind. When he finally did sleep, he dreamt that he was being packaged up in a clear box and sold at auction to some rich wacko as a pet or child's toy. Being recklessly tossed around like a rag doll and forced to do whatever his owner wanted him to do. The nightmares shifted to night terrors about being eaten alive by huge beasts and rats, of being hunted down by the mouse he engineered for Author as a pet, the blighted ‘Sparky.’

The fake morning eventually came, and the whole next day he waited for Author to come to his senses and let him out of the dome. But his brother never showed. The fake sky was a beautiful blue and the clouds were light and airy. But they might have well have been stormy tornadoes in the sky for all Rasa cared.

The next day passed with still no movement, no sound save for the voices screaming in his head that he was left here to die all alone in this immense model. His eyes were practically glued to the binoculars, trying to see through the tiny real two way window to the outside of the dome, from inside the Control house. The room was no longer inside that house, it was now miles away on his old desk across the lab, but still, he thought the window might yet be seen. However, there were simply too many tall buildings in the way. There was also a haze he never noticed before, the atmosphere from the bio-dome plants wasn't completely clear like he thought it was, it actually had a greenish tint to it. He then remembered a trip he and Arthur took to San Francisco and the air was just as thick but it was gray from smog.

"Green is better I hope." He said aloud and almost scared himself. It was the first living voice he heard in days. He missed it terribly. For the next five hours, he did nothing but sing songs he loved very loudly through the streets of Argo. Starting with the most ironic ones under the circumstances. Finding new meanings in each song when applying it to his current situation with him and his brother. Songs like, 'I'll stick around', 'Breaking the habit', 'Nowhere man', 'This is how a heart breaks', 'Don't you forget about me', and especially a sad reflective ballad, 'How to save a life'. Which he sang very loudly over and over again with more emotion in his voice each time until his throat hurt. Just to listen to the echo come back from down alleyways and bounce off of the buildings and buses.

One part of his mind said he was loosing it, and another part said that was too late, it was gone a long time ago. He told both parts to shut up so he could think. But what about? There was nothing here to hold his attention. He wandered from apartment to apartment, diner to restaurant, looking for something to talk to. He laughed at himself and thought about getting a volley ball and putting a face on it. "Not yet."

Nearly a week passed and he finally decided to go find Author's house, or what remained of it. He followed the streets and saw debris everywhere from the rioters. Burnt scorch marks on nearly everything. It was before he had gotten out the spray bottle to put out the fires. He wished he had gotten to it sooner. One building that was particularly damaged beyond repair, Arthur had worked on for weeks when they first started building the basic structures. Rasa remembered the melody that Arthur hummed while carving out the lions on the pedestals, the columns all done by hand. The intricate framework of the walls and vaulted ceiling. It was supposed to be the library but when Rasa went inside to check out the books he found that it was just a wall of painted titles made to look like an impressive collection, it was nothing but a depressing front.

"What did he do in here for three months? There's less then nothing here." Rasa said to himself as he made his way to Author's Control house.

It was without a front wall, a caved in cellar, burned ramming poles stuck clear through windows, and a huge gaping hole where the office once was. Rasa ran his hand over the hydraulic support pole for the office and felt along the cut lines he had made to free Arthur from the mob. He had a chill run up his spine as he thought of the helplessness of being trapped in your own house, attacked by people from all sides. He remembered that the first thing on his own mind while it was happening was; 'Serves you right Arthur.'

"What a miserable brother I was. Too selfish to think of how Arthur felt about it all. The murderous betrayal of not only your creations but of your own family. The only family Arthur had left and he was betrayed by him... I betrayed him."

Rasa felt like shit.

He sat in the living room of Author's house and sobbed. He deserved nothing less then this punishment from Author. He would take it all without complaint. His brother never complained about anything trivial during his undeserved sentence here. He was a truly a brave person. Rasa could now see that his brother was right from the start. Maybe not about everything but the important stuff.

He eventually got up and looked around Author’s house and found something peculiar written on the wall in the bedroom. "Let it go this too shall pass."

He ran his fingers over the letters and realized that it was carved very deep into the painted wooden walls by a knife on the nightstand. Next to the knife was a toxic mixture of oil from the power source and water. Rasa's mouth dropped when he realized what it meant. Every night, Author would carve out the letters in the wall a little deeper, and convince himself not to drink the oil and kill himself.

Rasa ran over to the clear part of the dome and looked out into the room. Scanning the walls of blinking lights and machines for some kind of movement. He saw the digital clock on the wall.

4:30 am. Friday.

Not even one full night had passed since he was locked in the dome. Already Rasa was feeling the allure of suicide.

A light was suddenly turned on in the hallway. Author stumbled past the lab room and grabbed the bag of Orios from the desktop. He paused briefly and looked at the model. Walking over he turned the temporal field off so the clouds would clear and he could see inside in real time.

Rasa ran outside and waved his arms and shouted until his lungs hurt. But he wasn't spotted.

Author looked blankly over the two cities and said aloud, "I forgive you, but I'm too tired to work tonight. I'll see you in the morning." he tapped the top of the dome twice with a knuckle before leaving the room.

In an act of mercy, Author did not turn the model back on and the night passed by in normal time.

 


	5. The Big Surprise

C hapter Five:  The Big Surprise 

 

 

 

A few more days passed with Rasa languishing in the cities. With the temporal field off, time went by normally for him and he was grateful for at least that decency. He could see Author work on something close to his old desk. It had been cleaned and a few of Author's things were now strewn about the top work station. There were several black and white photographs of an old one story house and close up shots of the interior rooms and outside plants, shrubs, and trees.

Rasa could see that Author was very pleased with whatever he was working on and would smile oddly at the domed cities. Rasa hoped that he was envisioning smiling at him instead of the empty buildings.

Rasa became increasingly bored and listless with nothing much to do in the cities. The TVs and radios didn't work anymore because the Faks that ran the stations were all now shut off and out of the model somewhere. The cities were quiet, save for the miniature river running through them and the simulated wind from the bio-dome. Observing Author was the only bit of entertainment from a living breathing thing. But watching his brother's back for days on end as he worked miles away became as dull as watching paint dry. Author never played much music while he worked as it distracted him too much from his self imposed tasks. It was just too quiet.

Rasa had an idea and over two days work later, traveling back and forth between his roofless house and Argo's downtown area, he managed to light up the appropriate windows of several key sky scrapers. He disconnected the power grid from those buildings during the daytime so when the fake sun started to set, the impact of the lights in the buildings would be noticed right away instead of dismissed as a random string of lights. What took almost as long as that task, was shutting down the power to all of the buildings around the three to give it a black backdrop.

Author worked away at the desk, referring frequently to the photographs and barely turned around to look at the city domes. He did care about his brother, but was just too busy to go talk to him before he was done.

Rasa was becoming impatient but had no way of getting his older brother's attention except for a lighted display.

Earlier, he tried to jerry rig up a new sound board so he could be heard by Author from outside of the dome and briefly considered using the dome itself as a kind of reverberating speaker. He quickly worked the numbers on the logistics of making the dome vibrate to form sound waves. He came to the conclusion that he  _could_ be heard, but in the process, Rasa would go deaf in seconds and his internal organs would vibrate themselves into destruction in less then a minute.

"Damn." Rasa said scribbling off the soundboard design.

He took out a pair of binoculars and tried to focus in on what the hell Author was doing over there on the other side of the room. "There is a small two foot dome, looks like it can be opened up on all sides. But what is that other stuff over there? Beaker bottles and test tubes? Is that some weird green slushy from the redwood trees? It would explain the blender...what is he cooking?"

Author went over to the bio-dome and looked for something that apparently was very quick moving in there. Rasa hopped in his jeep and drove over to the long tunnel attaching the Vela city dome to the bio-dome and got to the hatch just as Author spotted him about to cross into the long tunnel.

Author took a few steps over to the speeding jeep and as Rasa had feared, Author shut the hatch from the outside and wagged a finger at him. "Not yet Bro. Don't want to spoil the surprise." Author said kneeling down to Rasa's eye level.

Rasa got out of his jeep and punched the hatch door staring Author down. Mouthing some curse words at him and sitting stubbornly down right in front of the tunnel.

Author got back up and kept looking for the elusive thing in the forest. It seemed to kick about as Author cupped it in his hands like it was a tiny delicate butterfly. He turned his head to Rasa who brought out his binoculars again to see what was going on.

Author frowned and put the thing in his hands down into a white bucket and found a large flannel shirt to cover up the front end of the small city dome and tunnel so Rasa was now in near nighttime darkness.

Rasa honked the jeep horn a few times but knew Author wasn't going to uncover him until the work was done. So he flipped on the jeeps headlights and drove home in blue flannel colored darkness. Even if he went to Argo to get a direct line of sight to what Author was doing, his binoculars were not in any way strong enough to clearly see that far.

Early the next morning, he drove to the Argo city's power grid and turned it back on. Not wanting to wait any longer for the chance for his brother to see it, he decided to stage something on the top of the tallest sky scraper. He brought up numerous sheets of flame proof metal and laid them all over the roof, then crisscrossed the rest of the metal sheets over the center area. Rasa brought up a bunch of kitchen chairs from the apartments and broke up the wood. He then added several boxes of papers from business offices and proceeded to light up a huge bonfire on the roof.

Reclining in a luxurious couch close by with a hose from the firefighting system in the building, just in case the fire got too big, he broke open a bottle of Johnson's Finest whiskey from a crate he dragged up and tossed one into the fire to ignite a huge billowing fireball that rose to the top of the dome. Laughing at the smoke he opened another bottle and proceeded to get very drunk, waiting for his brother to wake up.

An hour later the flannel shirt was taken off of the Vela city dome and a very startled looking Author stared at the larger Argo city in disbelief.

"Rasa!" He shouted at the city.

In bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, office, hallway and porch lights all over three skyscrapers, including the roof of the one that was on fire, read, 'i want my C phone.' With the dot of the 'i' being the huge bonfire on the roof.

"Ah, I think he saw my sign." Rasa said cracking open another whiskey bottle as he saw Author scurry about the lab room trying to find the water sprayer bottle.

Rasa almost choked on a swig of the liquor when he saw Author first pick up a fire extinguisher. That would have knocked the roof clear off of the sky scraper with Rasa on it. He pointed at the water bottle but then forgot where he had left it in fighting off the rioters from Author's house.

"Ah shit, here I'll get it, don't worry about it Art." Rasa said as he turned on the fire hose and doused the bonfire. It sent up a huge black cloud of smoke which blocked out all light from the room over the dome.

Coughing at the smoke he heard the side panel hatch open up. The black clouds swirled around something immense overhead and he realized it was a huge blue water jug hovering menacingly over his building by a quivering hand. Through the black smoke, a few droplets landed around him, thudding heavily on the rooftop. The massive jug was then angled.

"Shit!" Rasa shouted as he dove for cover in the stair well as water crashed and ravaged the roof of the building. Most of the debris flew off the back of the building but still a huge wave went to join Rasa in the stairwell and smashed alarmingly fast the whole way down the building stairway in a flood of dirty water and burnt kitchen chairs. It pushed him into the stair rail and he was lucky it didn't push him over it and down the long shaft.

"Ras! Rasa! Where are you? Why the fuck did you do that? Are you ok? Where the hell are you?" Author shouted all over the city, looking for some sign of life.

Rasa was unable to get back onto the roof top because of the metal sheets meant to contain the base of the fire were now blocking the roof door. He managed to get to the second from the top floor and went to the closest window he saw. Pounding on the glass to get his brother's attention.

Author's head moved quickly around back of the building for fear that Rasa was washed off of the roof with the rest of the debris. He picked up the fancy couch that was wedged up against the air conditioning units behind the building and saw a miniature bottle of whiskey wedged in-between the seat cushions.

He nearly lost his mind when he realized that his brother had been on the roof. Thoughts raced as he hoped that Rasa was still alive after a fall like that, he sifted despondently through the debris on the streets for the tiny body. Trying his hardest not to loose it before it was confirmed one way or another, what had happened to Rasa. Gently, he lifted the downed trees and felt around with his quivering fingers along the streets under the dirty water.

"Arthur? Where the hell are you looking?" Rasa asked as he could only see his brother's shoulders and back move around behind the sky scrapers. "Well I can't go down stairs to make you see me there, by that time who knows where you'll be next. Can't chase you around the city when you just move three blocks at a time by leaning over..." Rasa said to himself as he looked around the place for some way to get his attention.

"I guess I could just use the lights, blink them or something..." Rasa said as he made his way past the wet wood over to the elevators and descended to the lobby. Finding the power controls again he flipped the electric current on and off in intervals. Making the lit up words on the first building blink but Author was still on the opposite side of the building for awhile.

"Come on Art. Just sit back for a minute." Rasa said looking out at the empty city street beyond the lobby.

Author backed up away from the building and finally noticed the blinking lights. He first thought it was due to the water dripping down into the electrical controls but then noticed a pattern form in the blinks.

Author just about shouted for joy when he realized it was Morse code that read, 'sorry' over and over. He wiped off his face on his sleeve and grabbed a flashlight from the desk across the room and shined it into the sky scraper level by level going down, looking for the power control room. The flashing lights stopped when Rasa was near blinded by the beam of brilliant light to rival the sun, pouring in unexpectedly through the open windows.

"Gah! Stupid asshole!" He shouted as he ran to the window. He leaned out with one arm covered up his eyes and face and the other waved for him to knock it off with the flashlight. The light was so bright that he could actually see the bones inside his arm when he covered his face with it.

Author shut it off and propped the flashlight upright in the glass building's patio. He gave a relieved smile and sigh which felt like a stiff breeze to Rasa in the window. It took Rasa a minute to get the huge burnt image of the flashlight orb to dim from his visual field. It was blocking out everything he looked at in a large glowing red smear.

"Damn." Rasa rubbed his eyes trying to see something that wasn't red.

"Oh my God, I am so glad you are ok. You are ok right? Don't scare me like that! I almost had a heart attack." Author said feeling his chest and taking another stiff breath. "Why would you do something like that? What possessed you to set fire to the building?" Author said ducking his head down to see inside.

"It's just a little bonfire. That's all. Oh yeah, I want my C phone you jerk. It's so frickin boring without any TV or even radio down here." Rasa shouted, blinking repeatedly at Author who still looked like a big red blotch. "Don't worry about me calling anyone, you know we can't get a good signal here in the basement. I just want it for the songs and movies I downloaded on it. I figure I can still kick the touch screen to get it to work."

"You did all this for a stupid C phone?" Author said as he propped up his head on his palm, with elbow on Argo City Hall.

"Yeah." Rasa shouted back. "Should be almost as big as a movie screen for me. Just stick a piece of tape over the speakers so I don't go deaf from it." Rasa shouted. He held out his hands for Author to stay put for a few moments as he went downstairs to street level and walked casually over to Argo City Hall. He sat on the hood of his jeep and looked way up at his brother. Holding out a hand and waving it for Author to put the C phone down right next to him.

"Ras you are an idiot." Author said leaning back a little and causing some roof shingles to slide off and onto the street below next to the jeep. Rasa didn't flinch, and actually expected some stuff to fall from on high. He knew how hard it was to be delicate when dealing with inch tall people in a model of flimsy balsa wood and cardboard. Moving too quickly or haphazardly around the model usually caused stuff to be dislodged and fall, or even be destroyed completely. He wanted to apologize for all of the stuff that he accidentally did to Author when he was in the model. He was thankful that Author remembered Rasa's mistakes and took care not to turn on the overhead light on high to look for him.

"So?" Rasa shouted. "So what if I am an idiot. I just want my C phone. You can't keep me sane in here with nothing to do and no one to talk to."

"That's part of what I've been working on. I'm not done yet though. I suppose it wont hurt to do this one little favor for you. Just don't set anything else on fire till I get back." Author said smirking at his brother. He leaned back out of the model, making sure only to support himself on his fingertips on the solid ground but still accidentally knocked over someone's garage and tree house with his left elbow pulling it out of the hatch.

"Whoops." he dusted off the debris from his sleeve.

Rasa could see Author hunt around for the device and on finding it, double checked to make sure it couldn't call out, or be used for anything dangerous to himself or little Rasa. He tapped on the screen as gently as he could and was happy to see it took almost no pressure at all to get the sensors on it to work. Then hooked it to Rasa's computer and uploaded all of his albums to the C phone to fill up its memory card so he could have plenty of selection.

Rasa, meanwhile, had gotten tired of waiting for Author's return to City Hall and thought that the best place to put the phone might as well be the Control house, even though it still had no roof or even control office for that matter.

Author returned to City Hall but found a message in the street in paint. "Went home." Sliding the large dome hatch shut, he moved to the Vela dome and opened up the panel over the house. He saw Rasa turn down the street in his jeep, honking and flashing the headlights at him the rest of the way.

"Yeah yeah, I see you." Author said as he positioned the C phone in the space where the control office used to be, setting it up on the other end of the room on its longer side. He also produced the neighbors couch for the small disheveled house and wondered why, of all the houses in the model that were still intact, did Rasa want to stay in this mess. Rasa parked in the driveway and grinned up at Author.

"I want to make sure you can use it alright, here's a little step ladder from the library and here's a pole to hit the top buttons. Can you get them alright?"

Rasa strode over to the phone and marveled at how huge it looked to him now. It really was massive and it actually made him feel very small to see its top edge nearly eight feet past where the roof used to be.

"I used to carry that thing in my back pocket." He said to himself, checking his jeans pocket out of habit, looking for it there even though it is sitting right in front of him, putting a dent in the soft floor.

Author knew why Rasa hesitated in touching it, and leaned back a little to give him a moment to process this information in his head. Each of the brothers had gotten used to seeing the other one leaning over into the model. Used to seeing their huge face's and hands all over the place working on this or that while being miniature. But it was always a shock to the system when something familiar entered the model. The sheer scale sometimes sent them into a mind bending confusion on where they were and how small they really are. Over time, while still working on the models tiny features, they had to make sure not to leave regular sized objects in the model when they weren't using them. It destroyed the illusion for them when they drove down the street and realized they were now on an enormous envelope and not driving into a white parking lot. Handwritten notes on design ideas would sometimes cover an entire house which might take hours to move just to enter the house or street.

Pencils had been sometimes temporarily jabbed into the yard like tall hexagonal palm trees with no leaves. Author had a bad habit of stabbing things with whatever he was holding. The punctured rough arms of the leather office chair could attest to that. Even so, Author was the neat one most of the time. Rasa just wanted to get stuff started and finished without worrying about putting things away, because he might need them later.

Rasa felt bad for putting then- miniature Author onto his messy desk just over a week ago, thinking about how it might have looked to him. Everything teetering on the edge, ready to fall and crush him to death should something bump into it. Then frowned at the notion that Author would want a mouse as a pet in this model, as it would be like befriending a brown Kodiak bear. One that shot sparks everywhere no less! He hoped that Author had already put the little mouse to sleep before today.

He stared at the screen saver on the C phone and jolted back to the fact that Author was still waiting patiently for him to try it out. He walked up to the screen and gave it a kick which made it flash into life. Rasa nearly fell backwards at the bright display squares coming into focus in front of his face. He had to take several steps back even to see what picture the numerous dots were making. He spotted the album folder and walked back up to the screen and reached up and punched it. It opened up the horizontal album file selection and he had to drag his whole hand and forearm across it to get the next song play list to slide over.

He picked out a soft songed album and turned the volume down to one bar and hit play. Holding onto his ears as it started without a fuss. He let go of the sides of his head and nodded at the moderate sound it was producing and gave a thumbs up to Author who smiled genially at him.

"Was there anything else I can get you?" Author asked.

"Yeah, how about a beer? Oh, and some Tylenol. I have a headache that can kill a full grown rat!" Rasa shouted upwards. He started to cough and felt his chest get tight.

"You bet." Author said and faked like he was going to put a regular sized beer bottle in the house and instead produced a fist full of liquor from the convenience store in downtown Vela. Dumping it all on the front lawn, breaking some of the bottles in the fall. He then measured out two syrupy drips and set down a bathtub full of liquid Tylenol into the driveway. He laughed at Rasa's expression, then leaned back out of the dome.

"I'll be done with the surprise before the week is out, so don't get too comfortable down there." He sealed up the dome not a moment too soon. Rasa was starting to feel the effects of being exposed to the regular air from the room and was getting dizzy from it. Air was now being pumped in from the bio-dome again and it was easier for him to breath.

For another few days, Rasa played nearly every song and video from the C phone and decided to fix up the house. Maybe rebuild its roof or at least tidy up a bit. He didn't realize that in all the time he had been in the model, he had trashed something on just about every street. Mostly due to joyriding in the various cars, trucks, luxury vehicles, busses and even the other two limo's that they put in. Hubb, being the proud owner of the third. Rasa decided that he loved the all terrain army jeep the most and he worked on it to make it climb over obstacles better. Putting in improved suspension, shocks, breaks and bigger tires on it. He dared think it could even climb over a 2 foot tall pencil laid down in front of it.

They had a limited number of vehicles in the cities even though they bought whole car lots from small bankrupting businesses around town, driving them one by one to the house to be shrunk. It would take time because they did not want to raise suspicion in their neighbors minds as to where all of the vehicles were being stored. Instead, they later opted for bikes and busses to transport the Reas and the Faks around, because if the cars get wrecked, they didn't have the means to fix them in the model. They always had to re-enlarge the vehicle, take it to the repair shop, fix it, shrink it again and put it back in the model. They were so easily trashed that they just left what was in there, in there. For better or worse. A couple of the Reas knew how to fix up cars but had limited miniature replacement supplies so it was a dying transportation method.

Very large inanimate objects could be miniaturized and enlarged using the simpler machine in their second work garage. It couldn't be easily used for complex living things, but for wood, metal, rocks and other objects it didn't have any problem changing their sizes. To convert the machine in the garage to miniaturize and bring back living organisms took time and energy, but it wasn't impossible. It was however somewhat unpredictable. Some of the poor animals they tried it out on were not re-enlarged quite right. Shrinking part was easy, it was the getting back part that was difficult.

The incredible amount of money they needed for the machines, model, supplies, energy and everything had to come from somewhere after their family fortune started running dry.

They had to improvise on 'supplemental' income and decided that making money would be the best thing to do. Not in printing it out, but enlarging something that's already valuable. Diamonds for one. Gold and platinum later when they figured out that if they got the diamonds too big, they would attract unwanted attention. For instance, if a diamond twenty times the size of the hope diamond shows up one day out of the blue from some random house, someone would ask questions on where the brothers got it, and where they can get some more.

Others would insist it was a fake and still countless more might break onto the property to dig up some more huge diamonds in their back yard, or steal them from the house. They had to be constantly aware who was informed of their new acquisitions of precious stones. Opting for the black market was always tricky. The threat of theft increased the more they bought and sold them. (This is the time when many of the thieving Reas would 'drop by' their house, be kidnapped, copied and placed in the model to keep them out of the way.)

Enlarging gold to be re-melted into gaudy jewelry worked best. Sending it in to the cash for gold businesses using alias's and PO boxes, allowed them to remain fairly anonymous. The process of melting and making jewelry took time but it was a fun side project. At least two buildings in the smaller city were made up of precious stones and valuable metals. Just for shits and giggles.

The Vela bank was made out of platinum and painted to look like ordinary bricks while the pizza place was made up of solid gold and silver in a pattern that looked like a cheap gaudy building design. Diamonds too big to look real were inset along the roof and were mistaken for broken lights aiming down.

The Tubris's estate house had softball sized gemstones all along the path leading up to the house mixed loosely in with regular glass stones, so whenever they walked along it, they had been walking along millions of dollars. No one visiting the place would even think twice at examining the dirty emeralds and sapphires, half covered by grass as two very long pearl necklaces were enlarged and placed along the sides of the path to keep the shrubs from overgrowing onto the gems. The downside though, was the bigger the stone, the more brittle and unstable it became if they did not have enough base materials.

The brothers had walked along the path so many times that they almost forgot that it was so valuable. Occasionally the setting sun would hit the jewels in just the right way to catch the light and send prisms of light all over their driveway and house, but only for a moment during certain times of year. People driving by the brothers estate would think it was just a light display and keep on going without the faintest idea the price tag for that light show.

Needless to say, they wouldn't easily run out of money for their project, but in order to keep a low profile and not become a bigger target for thieves, they still kept to themselves, and conducted their tests like they were running a business. There was a limit how big they could get the jewels and precious metals, because it was always easier to shrink things then make them bigger then their natural state. They calculated that a diamond the size of a basketball will become atomically unstable turning from solid straight to gas and explode, taking out a whole block of houses with it. So after the first trial runs, they kept them less then a third of an inch diameter maximum at a time. Purchasing tiny new diamonds from wholesalers and thrift stores to enlarge three or four fold to resell.

Rasa had pulled off one of the huge diamonds from the pizza place and was now using it to hold up his bottles of beer as he listened to 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds', laughing quietly to himself.

He was roused from his stupor when the dome seal unexpectedly thumped open and a brief throb of compressed air released and popped Rasa's ears.

"Oww!" He said sticking his pinky fingers in his ears and wiggling them around. "Graaraa... that hurt." He looked up and saw Author smile happily at him from above the house.

"What's up?" Rasa asked. "Well, besides you of course."

"I bet you're tired of sitting around in the model, huh."

Rasa thought it was a trick. No way would Author let him out of the model just like that. Not after the months of hell that he put Author through. Rasa had already accepted the idea of spending at least a year by himself in the model and was actually getting used to the quietness of being alone. Doing a great deal of soul searching, he came to the understanding that Author knew what he was doing, keeping him in here.

Rasa knew that there were plenty of worse places to be put to be punished and was glad it was at least somewhere where he would never run out of food, water, heat, shelter and at least now - had some entertainment to help pass the time. Prisoners would have to live in small cells in the real world but here Rasa had two whole cities to move around in. The real hurtful punishment for Rasa was to be without human contact. He never liked to be alone for long. Knowing that Author was in the room with him helped, but still was tough.

He got to his feet and walked over to the C phone, kicking the button to stop the song 'Talk' by Coldplay. Then walked to the end and picked up the two by four and hit the off button a few feet over his head.

"So.... umm. What's going on?" Rasa asked nervously. Author's smile calmed him a little but his conscience told him that he shouldn't be let off the hook so easily. After all, Rasa would have sold all of the Fak/human hybrids and maybe even the Reas, if Author hadn't entrapped him and let the real people go free. Rasa didn't know what happened to the created hybrids or the rest of the Faks and assumed they were just turned off.

Author leaned forward to look at Rasa's face to gauge his reaction. He was given a raised eyebrow and uneasy smile by Rasa. "What's with that weird look you've got?" Author said.

Rasa leaned back, "Which one? I have many."

"Never mind, heh, well, I'm done with my surprise and was hoping that you will like it when you see it." Author said, he even seemed to be a little giddy.

"Uhh, ok. What is it?"

"Come here, and I will take you to it." Author said, holding out his open hand on the street, angling it downward for Rasa to climb on.

Rasa just stood there looking at the dried paint on Author's fingertips where it didn't wash off. He checked out the broken finger nails and the roughness of the skin all over his huge hand. He was working on something alright.

"Don't worry, you know you can trust me Ras." Author said moving his huge hand across the yard, and up to the house to be closer to his brother.

Rasa took a breath and let it out uneasily. If Author wanted to hurt him, he didn’t have to wait for Rasa to be in his hand. There were any number of ways to kill or maim his little brother without even touching him.

So Rasa took a few hesitant steps forward and had to climb up onto Author's fingertips, crawl down the index and middle finger which was like two downed tree trunks that were made of cracked padded leather. He made his way to Author's palm so he wouldn't slip on through the fingers or get a foot stuck in-between and leaned up against a huge wrinkle in the palm. He gave the thumbs up.

Author curled up his fingers a little and put his other hand over top and enclosed Rasa in the palms, to make sure he wouldn't fall off along the way.

Rasa had a queasy feeling in his stomach as he felt the warmth of the hands and the pulse of the blood under the skin. The sound of skin rubbing against each other gave him the shivers as his paranoid mind told him that he was going to be crushed between these huge palms. They rocked him back and forth making him fall over more then once and he felt weightless at times and lightheaded at moving so fast.

Author took careful steps over to the desk and tried not to move his hands too much. He too felt a weird sensation in his stomach at the mere thought of his younger brother laying so helplessly in his hands. He sat down in the desk chair and stretched his hands forward to the middle of the desk and uncovered Rasa. Gently lowering his hand to the desktop he angled it slightly to allow Rasa to slide down and get off.

Rasa tottered a little after the dismount and had to get his bearings for a second. The desk was near perfectly clean, with nothing but a laptop, mug, pencil and pad of paper and a wireless mouse. The rest of the things had been organized into groups along the back wall in little cubby holes. The desk even seemed to have been wiped clean of all dust and particles on its surface. Smelling suspiciously like lemons now, he thought he could actually taste them in the air.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot something." Author said and went back to the model for a moment and brought over the couch Rasa had in his little house. "Have a seat."

Rasa walked over and reclined on the couch as Author sat back in his chair a little, scooting it forward.

"Oh and here you go, I made the lab room intercom better sounding, I also got this cool earpiece so I can hear you from anywhere in the house. I couldn't get the microphone too small so I’m sorry, but it is the best I could do." Author took a pair of tweezers out and picked up a small backpack and gently laid it in front of the couch.

"Shouldn't weigh too much for you, the battery doesn't have a really strong charge so you'll have to use this to charge it back up after two days." He then placed a 2 inch (or 10 feet for Rasa's eye) box next to the back pack with an electrical cord plugged into the wall. "I got the microphone from a spy kit online. Go ahead. Try it out." He said as he put on his earpiece.

Rasa put on the backpack and found the bulb of the microphone receiver built into the shoulder straps and blew air into it, "Testing? One two?"

"Turn up the transceiver a little... on the left side."

Rasa found the knob and turned it up halfway. "Does this thing actually work?"

"Yes! It works just fine, now we can just talk to each other like normal people. I put in a speaker in the main part of the pack in case I’m not here to talk to you directly. Like say, I’m in the kitchen and want to ask if you'd like something from in there, you can hear me and I can hear you. Isn't that great!" Author said happily.

Rasa smiled but his heart sunk a little as he now knew that Author didn't intend to make him normal sized again any time soon. He fooled himself into thinking the big surprise was 'bigger'.

"There's more." Author smiled and left the room for a minute. He had donned the virtual reality headset and gloves and put the small remote controlled robot onto the desktop, then turned on the gear and the robot came to life. Rasa looked up at Author and laughed as he saw him pantomime the actions like a silent movie monster as the robot walked over to him.

"Did I look that goofy to you?"

"Nope, you were way worse, lucky for you, I practiced more with this equipment."

"Oh yeah... how's the arm?" Rasa asked as he saw the bandage poke out from under Author's long sleeved shirt.

"It is better now, I rarely notice the pain anymore." Author got real quiet for a moment and frowned slightly. He shook his head and made the robot go over to a box on the side of the desk and pull something out that was apparently too delicate to handle with Author's real hands.

"What is that?"

"This, is what will help you breath normal air." He said and held out the robot hands. A rather large syringe was shrunk but not enough for Rasa's tastes it looked like a clear plastic toothpaste tube full of green mush with a large needle at one end.

"I can breath that mini-air just fine. I think I have a couple hours of your air before I start having problems." Rasa said checking his watch.

"That's what this is for. I tested it out on several animals first and they are all still fine." Author said, freezing the robot in place so he could go fetch something in the other room. He came back with an opened topped aquarium of animals that seemed to breath and act just fine in the room's air. A horse, two dogs and a cow all moved around looking at Rasa and Author. They naturally gravitated to him as someone nearer to their size and recognizable. Rasa walked over and put a hand to the thin glass as the two dogs vied for attention from him.

"See? They're just fine. Have been that way for days now. I thought you might have seen them when you drove to the bio-dome hatch. I was worried you'd spoil the surprise. They're gonna be your pets and any others you want me to get for you. The cows biological structure is actually pretty similar to a humans, and the horse was just for sale at the same place I got the cow from. Needed a second guinea pig." Author shrugged and dipped his hand into the aquarium. The more excitable dog leaped into it and smelled every inch of his palm as Author cupped it and brought it out for Rasa.

The dog jumped off of his hand before he brought it to the desktop but luckily Rasa was there to catch it and they both fell to the ground.

"Wow, energetic little thing huh? What is it? Part Shepherd part Lab?" Rasa asked between yaps and licks it was larger then medium but not as big as a purebred German Shepherd. Both dogs varied in coats and personality. This one seemed younger and more eager to please and the other brown one was decidedly alert and inquisitive as it watched from the aquarium.

"I bought them from a company that pre-trains them for a little extra money. I got the dogs because I needed something that was very obedient and consistent in the intelligence and behavioral tests so I would know if there were neurological or health problems caused by the mixture. Don't worry, they are fine, they passed."

The dog seemed healthy enough and didn't mind much that it was now only a half inch tall. "I thought you were allergic to animal dander." Rasa said ruffling the dogs floppy ears.

"I am, but not when it's that small. I picked some allergy medicine from the drug store just in case, but enough about that." Author set up a kind of pen enclosure using 4 thick books with a squarish space in-between to keep the dog from running off. With the tall books in place though, Rasa couldn't see where Author went and just played with the dog for a while. The robot climbed into the area and held out the syringe. Author's goggle-helmet head could be seen from over a paperback copy of 'The Cat's Journal', as he leaned forward to smile encouragingly at Rasa.

"Do you trust me?" Author asked.

Rasa mulled on it for a bit. ‘What would happen if I took that green goop solution and became normal sized again? Would it effect how I breath normal air?’

Author knew what might be going through his brother's head when he noticed Rasa looking towards the miniaturization machine. He said, "It breaks down in your system over time. Then you can return to your normal size without any problems. There were some rats I tested first and they are still alive and fine, they're kept in the garage far away from the model and the others because I don't want to risk them getting loose and messing things up. I didn't want to bring them in here to show you because, well... seeing rats at your size might be a bit scary." Author said resting his chin on a book and speaking softly.

"Yeah... I don't need to see them now. I trust you." Rasa said trying very hard not to think about them. Rats the size of semi trailers would terrify anyone.

"Ok, what the hell, do it quick before I change my mind." Rasa said and held out his arm. He turned his head away and held his breath.

Author knew Rasa was terrified of needles but there was no other way of delivering the mixture. So as quick and painless as possible he injected it all into Rasa's arm and picked the robot and dog up out of the ring of books. Putting the dog in the aquarium and taking the robot with him, Author hastily left the lab and waited in the adjacent storage room. Trembling and rocking back and forth on Rasa's old twin bed that was stored in there he took off the virtual reality helmet and waited.

Rasa just gawked at his older brother ditching him like that. With a growing sense of dread, he remembered Arthur's aversion to the sight of blood. His head ached with fear and it suddenly felt as though his whole body was being torn apart from the inside.

Author could faintly hear the screams of his little brother in the next room and shuttered as he thought of what he was going through then and there. The horse, dogs and cow were also freaking out in the aquarium and he could hear them kick the glass over and over.

“That stage passes, it will pass soon it's ok, he's going to be just fine once this is over.” Author kept repeating over and over to himself. "The animals were all fine - so he will be fine."

Eventually the sounds died down and Author glanced at the door to the lab room. He waited some more and hesitated a peek at the desk. He feared the worst but couldn't bear to look until he was sure the transition phase was over and done with.

Author put the virtual gear back on and found the robot almost crushed in his fretful hands. He checked the joints and it all seemed to work on the little machine. He turned it back on and went slowly to his desk and looked at the spot where the four books were laid down enclosing the area.

Rasa was curled up and leaning against two of the books bindings and didn't move.

"Ras..... Ras can you hear me?"

Silence.

The robot was placed down at the other end of the books and Author sat down but moved his feet to make the robot walk closer to Rasa.

"Rasa? Are you ok?" Author said quietly, making the robot stretch out an arm. As he touched his shoulder, the body of Rasa fell to the ground with his face aimed against the books. He looked dead.

Author tore off the helmet and goggles and slowly moved the two books out of the way so he could look at his brother in the eyes.

"...oh....Rasa....." He laid his index finger on the body and moved it ever so gently it flopped forward until it was lying lifelessly on its stomach. "No... dammit... why did I pressure him to take it? I should have let him go...." He muttered sadly. Tears fell down and splished against Rasa's face. More followed and he had to remove himself from the area around the desk. He walked over to the model and stared at it with growing emotion.

Trembling slightly Author paced back and forth between the two cities. He put a hand to it and stared hard at the small houses and stores, then opened up a large hatch over Argo. He cursed at and picked up the whole skyscraper that Rasa had the bonfire on. He angrily jerked it left and right to disconnect the water and electrical lines from its base. Small fountains of water and showers of sparks lit and littered the streets around as he tore the entire tower from its foundations and dragged it from the dome.

" _Fucking model_ !" He shouted as he threw the 4 foot skyscraper against the far wall, shattering it to pieces.

He tore into the next buildings that had been lit up and made a heap of glass, plaster and wood in the corner of the lab room. "Fuckin Rasa! He was the one that wanted me to build this damned thing! It's his fault not mine!"

He saw the scorch marks from the bonfire and thought that that was a good idea, he looked around for his brother's cigarette lighter. Not finding it, he knew it must still be on Rasa's body....

His small, lifeless body.

" _Fucking machine_ ." He growled at the collection of wires, circuitry and buttons leading underneath the model. Picking up some of the small trucks and busses, he jammed them into the vent for the power source underneath Argo, causing a black out in both cities. The river stopped flowing and pooled in the holding tub underneath the model's table. Silence engulfed the basement for the first time in years since it was converted into their lab. He heard the very very faint hum of the current powering the spatial force field surrounding the three domes. Without which, matter in that world would cease to act in a safe useable way. Microgravity would return to the normal world's gravity and the extremely delicate plants, buildings, and everything inside could be destroyed with minor air currents.

Author sat heavily at the controls for the model. He rested his hand on the kill switch and sobbed looking over to his desktop. This was both of their life's work. To turn it off would be to completely destroy everything they worked so hard on for decades.

"Would it be a symbol of destroying Rasa as well?" Author whispered. "Would it be like killing him all over again?"

He looked at the indicator lights all blinking away like they always had, for years upon years. Even Author was unsure what would happen if it was simply turned off it was Rasa who was the expert on miniaturizing the properties of water and matter while Author was in charge of the air and organics. They shared development on the gravity field and power source but still it was a very dangerous and uncertain thing to play around with so hastily.

The time field was another very important and dangerous thing to consider it was a freak accident that got it to work in the first place and neither knew how it actually worked. They inherited that technology from their father. The Faks were tuned into the time field and would turn off when it did. The only way to get them to work correctly was if it was on. They were useless without the time field and spatial gravity of the model. Every detail of the model had to be adjusted and fine tuned into one another in harmony for any of them to work. They could not have microgravity without the spatial distortions and time fields and vice versa. Splitting the atom was child's play compared to what they were doing here in this huge underground hall.

Author stared hard at the controls. He thought of the captains of old, going nobly down with the ship. Now that Rasa was dead, what more was there to do? What else could he do? Couldn't sell the research and what was left of the model.... he would get the money and be no better then Rasa trying to sell the Faks for fame and fortune. Was there a difference in selling robots that think they're people, and selling the place that they 'lived' in?

Author didn't want to make any money on it. Didn't need money, or desired it at all. He wished he knew what to do with the model, because he couldn't bear to give it up, nor to keep it.

 

So he left it.

 

 


	6. The New Old House

C hapter Six:  The new old House

 

 

A uthor went upstairs into his old room and laid down staring aimlessly at the ceiling. He was numb from the emotional pain of loss. Time ticked slowly on. He was so exhausted, he was almost asleep when he heard a sound in his right ear. Very soft and not entirely clear it sounded like a chuffing and shuffling of fabric, but he was laying still in his bed. He waited and there was another sound. Almost like a groan and air moving.

"Hmm? Ummm.....yeah." The sound said.

Author sat up in bed and looked around the room. His mind raced with the thought of his brother haunting his dreams. He wondered if it was now a little ghost and not full sized...

"Where did you go?"

"What?" Author asked aloud.

"I said, where did you go. Hello? Is this thing still working?" The sound of wind hissed by. "No not that one, here it is."  _click click click._ "Where the hell are you?" the sound was louder now but was still faint and almost hollow.

"What do you mean? Aren't you here with me?" Author got up and wandered around and the earpiece fell out of his right ear. He saw it land on the floor and laughed at his own stupidity. "Rasa! You're alive!" he put it back in his ear cupping his hand over top to hear it without background noise.

"No shit Sherlock. Where are you? The horse kicked the aquarium so hard it cracked and a piece broke off and now they're loose. Come and get it away from me it keeps wanting to nuzzle." Rasa said as he tried to push the animal away, it whinnied and nibbled on the ends of his shirt hungrily. "Don't you feed them?" Rasa said as the cow now started to take interest. One side effect of the green stuff was that it made the user smell like the most delicious morsel of greenery to herbivores.

Author leaped down the stairs to the basement and ran down the winding hall to the lab, swinging the door open wide. The horse and cow were so startled that they knocked into each other and dashed for the far end of the desk, thankfully stopping before falling off the edge. Author was so excited but he just had to see for himself how Rasa was doing, so he tried frantically to find the magnifying glass amid the new ruins of model splayed around the room.

"Jez Arth! Settle down! You're freaking me out moving all over like that!" Rasa said holding up both hands and motioning for the over exuberant giant to take a seat. Rasa then went around the books to sit back down on his own little couch with a major headache in progress from the green stuff. His joints were stiff and the dogs picked up on his discomfort. The two dogs stood in front of their hurt miniature master and growled ferociously at the huge monster standing in front of the desk. Making darting motions to warn it off by intimidation while barking like mad at it.

"Calm down puppies, it’s ok, see? He's sitting down now. Calm down." Rasa said holding them by their collars. He took a few breaths to settle his own nerves as well. "You could have  _warned_ me about that green shit." Rasa grumbled up at Author.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, yes I should have. I'm so sorry. I just knew it was the only way to help you breath outside of the dome." Author said trying not to lean forward to give the dogs space.

"You know what also helps me breath out here?" Rasa said abrasively, "Being my own natural normal size helps for one. Less chance of fuckin death... Tell you what, bring me back to normal and I promise I'll be gentle, I wont use my heel when I kick you." the horrible pain in his whole body insisted on saying.

Author gave an apologetic look and then turned away from him. When he thought Rasa was dead he wished he would have just turned him back to normal. Just forget about the whole feud and arguments and just gotten on with their lives.

"It was a mistake. I'm so sorry. I should have turned you back.... I was still so angry at you for what you did to me. Those 3 months in there... they weren't pleasant."

"Yeah? Well..... I'm sorry too." Rasa hung his head in shame and rubbed the dogs ears. He suddenly shot up off from his seat with his chest and head lunging forward in sickening waves from something inside that wanted out. He coughed and choked as he hurried towards the edge of the desk holding onto his mouth with both hands.

Author quickly put his hands just under the edge of the desk, thinking Rasa was going to jump but instead, he fell to his hands and knees at the edge of the desk and threw up watery chunks of green glop all over his older brother's fingers.

Rasa nearly choked laughing so hard and it sent him into another vomiting fit. He leaned forward, practically laying on his stomach and spit out the last vestiges of his gut. Author couldn't move his hands away, even though Rasa kept throwing up on them, due to the risk of him loosing balance and going over the edge himself.

Rasa breathed heavily trying to calm his stomach as well as his sick sense of humor. Taking off the backpack to alleviate some of the weight, he then rolled over onto his back and looked up at the nauseated face of his older brother staring at the small slick of green sick. Rasa was quite content and amused to look upside down at Author while he laid with his head within a quarter inch of the edge.

Rasa pulled the backpack over to rest his head on it like a pillow, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve and said. "Why on Earth did you do that? I wasn't gonna jump, I just didn't want my desk all smelly." He grinned and stuck a thumb at the desktop, it took Author a minute to respond.

"Your desk? This one's mine. Has been for awhile now. Till recently we had yours in the garage because you kept spilling acids and bases all over it. Thanks for not spilling  _your_ acids all over  _my_ base."

"Details details. I used this longer then you have." Rasa knocked on the wood. The two dogs cautiously moved closer to Rasa and laid down a few inches from his feet.

"Could you at least move away from the edge. I want to go wash my hands now and I can't move them as long as you're so close to the drop off."

"Sucks to be you." Rasa said crossing his legs while laying down on his back. Even the dogs had enough sense to stay away from the edge. Pleading and whining for their master to get to safety.

"Stubborn asshole." Author said and reached for an envelope from inside the desk with his cleaner hand. He then put down the envelope the long way on edge and slid/scooted his brother to the center of the desk and left to wash his hands off in the chemical sink.

Mostly thou, Author needed some private time to recover from his emotional roller coaster from dealing with his now-no-longer-dead brother, and the fact that he came so close to completely shutting down the only machines that could bring Rasa back again. Author couldn't turn off his fretful emotions as easily as Rasa seemed to be able to.

Rasa just laughed his ass off at the apparent look of disgust that his brother had, and staggered back to the couch. Adjusting the backpack to fit more loosely he put it on again, but muted the microphone. He decided to check out what Author was working at on the computer, to get at least a hint of what was so danged important that he needed to be injected with that unholy green goop. Rasa whistled for the horse and it came trotting over to him now that the giant had moved on from the area.

"Ok now... are you broke? Can I ride you?" Rasa asked the horse lifting its bridle in front of it, it chuffed at him and seemed to accept his leadership, if nothing else, it wanted to smell the delicious green scent coming off of his body. Rasa led it over to the couch and got up on its back, still holding onto the reins attached to the bridle. He adjusted his position on the bare backed horse and urged it forward. Rasa practiced going around a little, taking it easy until he was familiarized with the way this horse acted.

When the Tubris boys were pretty young, they had taken riding lessons for only a few years. Their father never saw the point in riding horses for fun and canceled their lessons. Instead, pushing them for the sciences. Rasa missed the horse's and he suspected that Author did too, seeing as how he chose one to bring home as a pet.

Rasa had it trotting in no time and sidled up next to the keyboard to the computer. He saw the USB port that the wireless mouse was attached to and gingerly got off of the horse and onto the port, then climbed up the keyboard. He tugged on the reins gently to coax the horse into getting closer and wedged one end of the reins in-between two keys.

Since the screen was naturally angled upwards, and he stood so close to it, the areas of color had shifted around and it made the pictures on the screen hard to look at. Any color darker then beige turned to black and deep blue. On the plus side, for some reason, he could still read the text, it required much head turning left and right but it was possible.

He strode out onto the keys and tried jumping on them. He managed to make the arrow button move and the picture on the screen went to the next one in line. He jumped again to see the next picture. Once he got the hang of it, he browsed through a few diagrams of a small building and placements of some shrubs in a circular area.

Author dried off his hands and tried to clean his fingernails of the paint. He turned to see pictures flash by on his laptop monitor and smiled. He quietly went over and sat in his chair and leaned forward to see little Rasa jump over to the letter keys. Trying to remember where they were now that they were half his size. Making long, random strings of letters on the worksheet page. /.,mnhhjiikmmnhhyyhnnbvcxzaaasdfvbnmmnbgfdeerty

"What are you trying to type?"

"Oh shit! You scared me there. No easy thing to sneak up on me there Gigantor, kudos... I was trying to type 'hi my name is Rasa' but I kept getting lost on the keyboard. Funny thing, forgetting qwerty when all the letters are so close to your face."

"I can imagine."

"So those pictures in that folder... they look sorta familiar."

Author smiled and waited for Rasa to get off of the letters so he could type. "You can stand on the touchpad if you want. Should be safe there... I never use it."

"Nah, your fingers move too fast for my taste. Like trying to watch 8 bent tree trunks dance a loud Irish jig with two thumb logs thumping along. No thank you. I'm gonna go sit on Mr. Ed over there." He said and got back onto his horse, giving the wireless mouse a wide berth. The heat from the laptop was also getting his feet hot so he didn't want to linger on it for too long.

"You know what... how about I just show you the real thing rather then just pictures of it." Author said and put an upside down coffee cup over top Rasa and his horse to keep him from peeking.

"Yeah this isn't weird..." Rasa said trying to keep his horse from freaking out in the dark cylindrical cup, it circled around and around in the tight area and sniffed at the bottom trying to get some fresh air. Light bled in from underneath by scratches in the desktop and only illuminated the horse's hooves. Rasa was getting extraordinarily thirsty for some hot coffee, being submerged in the scent of it from the freshly used mug. As the horse circled, Rasa held out a hand to the insides of the mug and was able to get his hands wet with the coffee remains and licked his fingers, "ick, cold coffee sucks. Still... I am hellaciously thirsty." he said and got another handful.

He could hear something heavy being moved in from outside of the lab room. Being very grateful for the mug in keeping the loud sounds to a minimum. He heard his older brother sit back down in front of the desk and as soon as the mug was lifted, he rolled his chair over to the two foot dome that was covered by his blue flannel shirt. Uncovering it, Author said, "Tada!" and waited for a response from Rasa.

Author could barely see the tiny mounted figure move around on the desk and decided to get him closer to see.

"Here." He scooted his wheeled office chair back over and held out his hand next to the horse for Rasa to jump onto it. The horse wanted nothing to do with the huge hand and threatened to buck off its rider. "Oh sorry, forgot he's a timid one..."

Author pulled back and waited for Rasa to dismount before approaching him again. Holding out the hand carefully, Rasa hopped up and was carried over to the two foot dome. The dome was lifted off of it and set aside on the desk. Inside, stood a white one story house with two trees in the front yard and several shrubs in the rear. Flowerbeds dotted the area here and there with a two person swing in the center of the back yard.

Author was beaming with pride, "It's our old house! The one you grew up in. Not the one I was born in... we didn't have many pictures of it and you wouldn't remember it at all. You were just a baby back then." Author said. He let Rasa jump off of his hand and wander around the backyard, garage and front yard. He went inside the house and found that the whole ceiling was almost see through with cinnamon brown Plexiglas roof shingles to let in light but keep out dust.

Rasa slowly walked around the 6 near empty rooms, smiling at the details Author had put in, even though there were few things in it. He found the one room that they had shared when they were young, it had a bunk bed against one wall and a dresser on the other. Some cloths were laid inside it but were obviously cloths that the Faks were wearing. Half were still dirty and smelled like smoke. Rasa'd just have to wash them later.

He checked his microphoned backpack to speak to Author who sat down in front of the small house to see in through the bay living room windows.

Rasa smiled at Author outside. "This is pretty cool Art. I remember playing hide and seek in here, and measuring our heights on this small bit of wall here... heh, I shouldn't be surprised that the lines aren't here..." He said, grazing his hand over the painted plaster sheet.

Author smiled and left Rasa to explore a little more. Rasa actually laughed when he saw that the kitchen was stocked with ramen noodles and other college kids foods, as well as a full refrigerator and it looked as though Author had just shrunk their fridge and put it in there. The power was supplied by a car battery built into the platform of the model close to the base to provide sturdy weight to it. Rasa opened up the basement door and found the spiral stair down to the battery and left the power adapters well enough alone. Wondering what battery acid would do to minis like himself if he should accidentally touch it. "I'll leave that to him."

Rasa left the house and wandered around the yards, finding a similar car that their dad had let them steer on Sunday drives. "I thought that car was red... this is close enough... I wonder what happened to that car anyway, would have been an antique by now. Right Arthur?" He looked up into the sky from the garage. Then walked around the house, still searching upwards for his brother. He even walked carefully to the edge of the circular platform and leaned over to see if Author was on the ground for some reason. Then headed over to the backyard to get a better view of the desk against the lab wall.

The two dogs happily ran up to him and immediately wanted to play around, running away and coming back with things they found in the yard. Rasa looked up and around again for Author because the dogs just now showed up but he was still nowhere to be found. He checked his microphone and speaker in his backpack and made sure they were still turned on and said, "Now where did you go?"

"Right here." Author said punching Rasa on the shoulder.

Rasa spun around looking way up and then back down to his now miniaturized older brother.

"What?! Holy crap! You're here! I can't believe you're here!... But how did you get here on your own?" He asked hugging his slightly shorter brother over and over. So grateful that he could do so as it had been weeks and months since they last spoke face to face being the same size.

"Easy easy, I missed you too." Author said hugging back. He punched him fondly in the head and pointed a finger to a long mechanical arm that was resting next to the small two foot diameter platform.

"I programmed the arm to take me from here to the resizing tube. I can visit whenever you like." Author was elated. His same sized reunion went as he had anticipated and they didn't start fist fighting right away. "I was hoping that we could rebuild our old house together. Start from scratch without all of the high tech crap that split us apart..." Author said walking with Rasa towards the house to get away from the steep edge.

Author looked over to the city domes with a new sense of disdain towards them. "We need to talk seriously about what to do with the cities. I mean, I'm tired of worrying about force fields, fake gravity, time and space distortions... all of that. The Faks are in storage, and I wanted to discuss options with you whether we should put them back in the cities and let them have it or not. I was too close to them for a long time and I think I lost perspective on the whole matter. Seeing Faks walk around and talk like real people fooled me into thinking that they were more then machines." in a low awkward voice he said, "I just took cells from the Reas and mixed and matched them with different Faks... they're basically mixed clones, I didn't create life, just messed around with it." Author felt very ashamed for even trying to play God. "You were right, it was very blasphemous of me to think I could compete with Him. I want to make amends, fix my mistakes and move on with my life. I mean, get rid of that whole business. Give the technology to someone or some organization that can do some real good with it."

"I think I know what you mean. I can't believe I thought of using those guys for fame and fortune. I actually want to thank you for sending me into time-out over there. I lost touch with my soul for a while, just convinced I was right and you were wrong. I think we both forgot why we started doing that whole thing in the first place. To remember Dad... and what he wanted to do with his own achievements, leaving his mark on the world, or at least, a part of it. The cities and that technology should be used for bettering peoples lives. Feed the starving, homeless, and others that could live in the model if they should choose." Rasa said looking far out from the pedestal to the two large domes over the cities.

"Yeah, free will.... give them the option to leave. We had so much fun building those cities when we knew we were able to leave anytime..." Author said.

"I know I had fun. But yeah, I don't want that model anymore. This one is more my style anyway." Rasa said sitting down on the swing. "Keep it simple."

Author stood next to the swing then wandered over to the grass. "I thought that it would be nice to not have to worry about these plants and trees. They are natural minis. I got most of them at botanical stores, they are namely flower buds with thick stems that look like branches in place of shrubs. Those are just bonsai trees, trimmed to look like normal sized ones. This grass is a species of moss that is from Ireland, needs watering every couple of days, sorry it's so bouncy. I didn't think it would be like a sponge to walk on." He said taking a few steps on it.

"No worries, you have done splendid work." Rasa said looking around, and he meant it.

Author gave a half smile and walked over to sit down heavily next to Rasa. They talked for a long time about the memories that they shared in their old house. All the good times, and even some bad. They wished they had spent more time with their mother, because it seems like from sun up to down they were out exploring or building something with their father. She was content to take care of the housework and the financial business, making sure that they had enough money to support their Dad’s new venture in building lightweight planes.

The brothers took a new look at their pasts and almost wished for a more normal life then growing up with beaker bottles, soldering tools and circuitry. The life they had crafted for themselves since their parents deaths has so far left them alienated from the world. As well as each other.

"When I thought you were dead, I realized too late that I didn't want to keep you locked up anymore, it's just... there was still some part of me that wanted you to know what it felt like for me to be in that thing for 3 months with people that hated me. They hated you too, you know..." Author said looking Rasa in the eyes. "Some even wanted to kill you, but I wouldn't have it. That last big guy I let out, Trent, he was the worst. That's why I had to point a gun on him to get him to leave. He wanted to find you and kill you in the worst way. You don't even know..." Author said hanging his head. "What we both did was wrong. I can't blame you for everything. So let's just start over. I don't want to hate you and I don't want you to hate me."

"I don't, well, I used to be angry with you. But, yeah, more then that, I missed having my older brother around." Rasa punched Author in the arm.

"Aaiee jeez, not  _that arm_ ." Author said rubbing his bandage.

"Oh shit! That's right, here, you can break my arm if you want.  _Then_ we can call it even." Rasa said willingly holding out his left arm.

"Maybe later. I don't have much time in here." He checked his watch as it beeped at him. They had talked for almost two hours in there without noticing the time go by.

"You'd have time if you took that green goopy solution as well." Rasa said.

"Who would we get to watch the house? There's still a lot of people that are snooping around the neighborhood, even though I put up more 'no trespassing' signs and even got a few of the neighbors to do a neighborhood watch. I had also rented guard dogs from the Makon's every night since that first night. They have a Mastiff and German Shepherd that keep a good eye on things. They come and get them early in the morning and drop them off late at night, the Makon's sometimes like to party real late so I'm actually helping them out too." Author said ruffling their own dog’s furry head in front of him. "These guys are pretty well trained too, but the Labrador side of them seems too gentle to be used as guard dogs. That's why I had to rent the others."

"Yeah, you have to stay normal sized because someone needs to feed the big guard dogs, or they might come looking at us as a snack." Rasa joked.

"Don't even think about that! Jeez you're gonna get me paranoid that the dogs are gonna get in here somehow and eat us."

"Serves us right. Hahaha" Rasa said getting up and walking over to the robotic arm, giving it an envious look.

"The password is 'Chinese take out' to get it to take you to the shrinking machine. I'm sorry, I am really sorry, but, we have to wait for the green stuff to be broken down in your system before we can get you back to normal."

"How long will that be?"

"I honestly don't know. The rats took a few days but for someone bigger it might be different. I guess I'll have to stay normal sized at home until it does, because if it gets out of your system before I can get you to the cities or make you normal sized again, you will suffocate in this air." Author said and his watch beeped again at him. "Ha, just like I'm about to run out of time in just over half an hour." He cleared his throat and looked around at the small house.

"Still, umm, do you like it?" Author asked quietly.

"Yeah, this house brings back many good memories." Rasa said grinning.

"Oh! I completely forgot, I put in an adapter for your laptop, so you can surf the web in here, it is on a separate operating system that uses boosted wireless signals for the internet. I couldn't figure out how to get the cable lines hooked up to your little laptop. I can bring over your couch and C phone if you like, did you want it miniaturized so you can use it easier? Or do you like the movie screen in the living room."

"Lemme think about it, so where is my old computer?" Rasa walked to the house and was led to their Dad's replicated office room and showed his old acid eaten, beat up work desk with his old computer set up on top.

His office chair was pulled out by Author for him. "Still has the marks from when it hit the bio-dome. Just wanted to show that it was yours, not a replica. There is something to be said about authenticity. I didn't know what all you wanted in here with you from our big house so lemme know later using your computer. The robotic arm can take you anywhere in the house you want to go, just ask me first if there's anything dangerous before opening doors. To me, it feels like it would be summer by now, but it is apparently still spring outside and the bugs get into the house even though I'm trying my best to get rid of them. Thankfully the generators all around this room keep them at bay, but only away from this room and that storage room over there with the spare bed. The one that you took naps in and stored parts, furniture and other junk."

"Ahh, yeah. Seems you moved into that room these past couple of days."

"Well I got carried away some nights working on this house. Well, crap. Looks like that's all the time I have." Author said as his watch gave an alarm. He coughed and gave a sympathetic look to his brother.

"It’s alright, I'll see you tomorrow." Rasa said. "I'll let you know if anything happens so don't worry about me."

"You can plug in your backpack into that wall overnight." Author showed how, and hugged his brother again. He started coughing fitfully now and Rasa had to practically carry him out of the house and over to the robotic arm. He watched Author leave and come back as his normal huge self.

Author brought over the couch from the desktop to the front door. Rasa had to pull it into the house by himself as Author couldn't fit his fingers in and did not want to remove the roof to put it in there like with the rest of the furniture. Author placed the horse and cow into the bio-dome and kept the tunnel entryway shut to keep them from wandering the cities.

He returned to the miniature house and covered it up with the modified dome, instructing Rasa on how to open and shut the small hatch where the robotic arm was programmed to go. Showing that he could leave that little house if he wanted to, it wasn't like before when it was only up to the giants’ discretion. The dome over the little house was just as a precaution, to keep out bugs, dust, or if something should accidentally fall on top of it, it would keep the whole thing safe. There was an opened vent on one side to let the plants breath, and to air out the last of the glue vapor, it wasn't dangerous to breath, but just to be safe the 6 inch circular vent on the upper side of the dome was left open.

"Anything you need, I'll be sleeping only 30 feet away in that storage room. You might have to give a shout into the backpack so I'll hear you." Author said, "I'm here for you now."

Rasa waved and Author gave a nod back. "Goodnight."

Rasa went inside the house to the new office and went online. While checking old messages he felt the need to be tight lipped about updating the events in recent history to his few online friends. He did some recreational browsing for a short while then decided to feed the dogs and hit the hay. There would be plenty of time to do stuff in the morning, but for now, he was dead tired and slept in his cloths, right down to his shoes.

 

 


	7. Uninvited Guests

C hapter Seven:  Uninvited Guests

 

 

 

" G ah! What the fuck was that?" Rasa woke shouting after he was knocked clear off of his bed and against the wall. The dogs barked at the shaking back yard and Rasa had to round them up and put them into the bathroom for their protection, thinking it was a major earthquake. The whole house banged again and sent Rasa into the kitchen cabinets, bruising up his arms and back. Then he slammed full on into the refrigerator. Food and dishes were soaring from the cupboards and fridge with each major shake. He heard very very loud noises coming from beyond the dome over his house and hesitated to go out back to see what was going on.

Through the back yard windows he saw something extremely large, plaid blue and wrinkled up against the whole north side of the dome. Every time it moved, the house inside shook and shifted. The thing slid down a little as Rasa ran outside. He stopped short when he realized it was Author leaning against the 3 foot pedestal the house was on and actually appeared to be covering the dome as best he could with his torso and arms. Author was cautiously moving the whole thing away with his back and elbows.

"But away from what?" Rasa said trying to see around the blue plaid shirt that covered over 250 degrees of view to the rest of the lab.

The whole house shifted again with an ear piercing screech of its base scraping on the cement floor. Author stopped moving it when he heard the scrape, he seemed tense and alarmed that it made a noise.

Rasa got back up to his feet and was about to shout up to him when he suddenly heard a voice speaking but instantly knew it wasn't his brother.

" _Where is he_ ? Where is that fucker?" One enraged voice shouted.

Another threatening voice chimed in. "Don't make us tear up the cities to find him! It would be a shame to destroy something so beautiful." The person spat with clear contempt in his voice.

Rasa heard a deafening crack that sent him reeling against his house. Another thunderous crack and he had to go back inside and slam the door shut. Gunshots on the other side of the room echoed all over the place and reverberated around his whole house. Rasa's ears started to bleed from the audio impact and he moaned in pain, clutching the sides of his head. He looked out of the brown Plexiglas roof and saw the back of Author's head resting on the top part of the dome with his shoulders now slumped.

" _no..._ " Rasa whispered as he thought that Author was hit. He took several steps back and trembled with fear and sadness.

Author's face turned slightly to the right side and his eye moved down to gaze at the house below. Rasa slowly opened up the back door again and took a single step outside, looking up at his brother's face. His heart skipped a beat when he saw that Author's eyes were darting back and forth, searching down below, trying to locate little Rasa in the house, he quickly scanned the area. When the other people noticed him desperately trying to spot something to his right, they assumed that Author was looking at the smaller city just beyond.

The larger of the intruders tore open the hatch over the Control house and found the C phone propped up against the living room wall.

"This is new. Don't remember this being in there when we were held captive." He said and crushed the phone in his hand, he then threw it up against the wall past Author's head. Rasa watched the giant figures through his clear brown ceiling and cringed at the sight of internal liquids from his crushed phone splattered on the wall. The mangled phone fell past his domed house too fast for him to think, it actually took his breath away from shock.

"You have two minutes to tell us where your fucking brother is, or I will burn both cities to the ground."

Author glared at the man then sneered, calling his bluff. They wanted Rasa alive so they could murder him themselves. The others left him to search through the domes. Author slowly stood up from where he was in front of the pedestal. Rasa could now see his crossed hands were tied together with wire and were so bruised and bleeding that they reeked when they passed by the house dome vent. Very carefully, Author slipped one of his hands in through the opening and laid it palm side up onto the mossy grass in the back yard. Hoping not to get the attention of the men who were now throwing house after house against the far wall.

"Come out, come out where ever you are!" A young woman shouted as she smashed some houses with her fist and let loose a rat into Vela. She found the 2 rats in the storage garage. She held one up menacingly close to Author's face, and instantly got the reaction she wanted. 'If Rasa was still small, he would be in mortal danger with a rat running loose around the estate.' She thought.

Author stared at it with fear as she made the rat nibble on his nose, squeezing its stomach until it squealed and bit him repeatedly all over his face. She then tossed the rat into the larger dome and it scratched and climbed all over the city skyscrapers.

"Damn you Bastards." he growled at them as his face stung with fresh pain. "You’ll never find Rasa! He left here as soon as I let you all go free. I hope I never see him again! That bastard locked me up too remember?" Author shouted at the others who ignored him and continued to ransack the lab.

Author tried to keep his nervous hand steady on the ground and moved his fingers up and down as a signal for Rasa to hurry up and get onto his hand before the others noticed what was going on.

For a minute Rasa believed that Author was going to turn him over to save himself but he would have done that already. So he made sure the others backs were turned and ran from the house over to his brother's bleeding hand. He jumped up, scrambled along the fingers and sat against the huge thumb muscle and lifeline wrinkle. He kicked at the palm to give a sign he was in and the fingers almost snapped closed. Keeping a tight fist, but with enough room inside for Rasa to lay down along the wrinkles.

"My life is in your lifeline. How sad and ironic is that?" Rasa said, disturbed about the mere idea of it.

Author pulled his fist out of the small dome and held both hands right next to his back. Hiding them underneath the tail of his blue flannel shirt. Rasa tried not to move too much because he didn't want Author to think he was falling out from the small opening next to his thumb or the other one made by his pinky finger. However, being moved around so fast made him sick to his stomach and was difficult for him not to change position to keep himself upright as Author walked somewhere, presumably towards the door.

Rasa felt a loud muffled thump and another and each time the whole body moved violently backwards. He heard indistinct deep rumblings of sound come from Author's back and realized his brother was threatening the men in front of him.

Another thump and Author almost lost his grip on Rasa, quickly putting his other hand underneath and dropping him to that one as the first was cramping up and loosing strength.

Rasa spun around trying to hold on to anything. The lab room tumbled wickedly as the hands adjusted around each other. Rasa slid down the bloodied fingers and fell on his back onto the other index and middle finger, knocking the wind right out of him. He could see gallons of thick blood coming out of the wrists as Author tried desperately to keep a safe hold of little Rasa. The thin wire cut deeper whenever he moved his fists too far apart and the temptation to just relax his hurt hands was unthinkable because that would mean Rasa's death. He loosened his fist for a second to reposition his fingers to make sure Rasa had room. Author was violently jerked forward and upwards making the whole body shudder.

Rasa felt like they were moving sideways and then a rush of air passed quickly by the hands. He was actually weightless for a moment, then felt a crushing force all around him and could tell with dread that Author was now on his back with his tied hands underneath him. The fists reluctantly started to flatten out with Rasa running out of room to move. He frantically tried to hold up the huge palm with his hands and feet, pushing as hard as he could to keep it from crushing him.

“ _Arthur... please...._ ” he strained and pushed up with all of his might, wedging himself in-between the huge fingers and feeling that unrelenting pressure from the sides as well as above.

"Shut up and stay down!" The other voice boomed and Rasa could hear the sharp clack of boots leave the room, going towards the lab.

Author whined with the pain of the wire and arched his back as best he could to relieve the pressure. As gingerly as possible, he moved his hands to the side away from the lab. He adjusted his body to lay down on his right side instead of back, and made sure his body wouldn't be easily moved should the others want to kick his ass some more. The fist relaxed open a bit and Rasa could let his arms and legs drop back down. He managed to maneuver out from in-between the fingers and panted heavily from the strain. He futilely attempted to calm down from the terrifyingly real threat of being crushed to death. Lucky for him, Author's ring finger was caught in such a way to keep the fist from collapsing completely, if the ring finger had been a little more straightened out, Rasa would have become nothing more then another red smear on Author's hands.

Author glared at the people in the other room as they rummaged through his desk for any clue where Rasa might be. They talked about burning the heap of debris that used to be several sky scrapers that he had thrown against the wall only the day before.

"Go ahead! Burn that damned model to the ground! I'm tired of looking at it!" Rasa heard Author boom at the 3 men and 1 woman who had all of their attention on searching and destroying every other part of the model.

They found the 'monsters' in the lower levels and spent a great deal of time playing with them on the floor of the lab.

"Ras.... Ras can you hear me?" Author whispered and tried to look behind himself.

Rasa kicked at the pinky finger and it straightened, giving him a way out. He quickly but cautiously jumped down from the fingers to the bedspread far below. Immediately lightheaded from the maneuver, he had to rest for a minute. The fabric folded around him several times as he moved, making it hard for him to find his way anywhere. He saw the long blue flannel shirt tower above him and followed it, jogging and climbing over the green bed sheet towards the back of Author's head. The bedspread moved with Author's breaths and Rasa even felt the smaller tremors of his heartbeat as it raced with clear apprehension.

"I'm here! Don't move Arthur!" Rasa shouted as he rounded the enormous head. Author's hair was disheveled and dirty and stuck out in odd directions. Rasa tried to give the whole tangled mess a wide berth but kept slipping towards it because the heaviness of his head made the blanket fold and bend downwards. Rasa climbed up onto a thick fold in the blanket. Now looking over at his brother's face he almost gasped at what he saw.

Author looked up from where he laid on his side and tried to smile at Rasa who had to sit down from the horrendous sight of him.

Huge purple mounds of swollen flesh were split in areas that let loose some drops of blood mixed with sweat. The big tooth marks from the rat were all over his nose and cheeks and would leave lasting scars for the rest of his life. Author's lip was split open from the punches to his face and his gums were bleeding. His left eye was turning blue and became bloodshot.

Author tried to focus on the small figure, finding it difficult because it was so close to his eyes, it was just a small moving blur to him against the sea of green bed sheets. But at least the blur moved as if it was still healthy. He angled his head towards the small thing and tried not to breath too heavily but with his hands tied behind his back he couldn't adjust properly to breath easier. The image of Rasa cleared as he scooted his head just a bit further away to allow the little guy plenty of room. The bed's shifting moved the covers and knocked Rasa into a fold in the sheet, but he was still able to see the broken face of his older brother. Author smiled at Rasa and gave a relieved sigh.

"I'm glad - " he gave a pained cough, "you're alive."

"My God....  _I'm gonna murder them_ !" Rasa shouted and marched over to where he could see the people throwing this and that around the lab. He saw dangerous sparks shoot out from the helper robotic arm as one of the men beat on it with a hammer. "You fucking bastards!" he shouted with rigidly clenched fists.

Author had a worried look on his face behind him, "Rasa, are you ok? Where are you bleeding from? Did I hurt you? Oh no, I hurt you badly didn't I..." he said with horrifying guilt.

Rasa slowly turned around, almost reluctant to look at Author's injured face again. "No umm, it's yours. Your hands are covered in blood from the wire around your wrists... you don't feel that?" Rasa held out his hands in the same way Author's were tied together and showed where the cuts were made.

"No, I guess I just blocked it out. Is it bad?"

"Umm, I'm not the one to ask.. from my point of view...umm...no, it's not that bad... don't worry about it." Rasa said trying to hide his emotions. The wrist wounds were shallow but bled freely and Author's face was turning a lighter shade.

"I’m sorry Ras. Oh wait... nngmm." Author lowered his eyebrows in concentration about something unseen. He spat out some blood laced saliva to the bed sheet and felt around his mouth with his tongue. Through the side of his mouth he said, "Back up Ras..." and shot the loosed tooth out of his mouth at a small dorm fridge. "Owww." He whine/grumbled, tonguing the hole it left behind. He looked at Rasa's worried face and laid quietly despondent for a short while, deciding not to show how hurt he really was, for Rasa's sake. Rasa needed to believe that Author could still take care of him, because no one else would.

"We've gotta get you out of here." Rasa said searching for some way of escaping.

"No, I have to get  _you_ somewhere safe. I don't know how long you have until the green stuff wears off. I'm not sure what we can do if that happens and they are still here." Author said silently, tilting his head to see if the bio-dome was still safe.

It was ignored for the most part, the others apparently found their stash of small diamonds that had yet to be enlarged and were fighting over who gets what.

"I have a plan." Author said quietly. "But first, you have to get into my shirt pocket so the rats don't get you."

"Rats?!" Rasa said almost cowering down and looking at every corner he could see with stark fear. "They let the rats out? What kind of sick people let rats loose? Wait, is that where you got those hideous gash marks?" He accidentally pointed to the big bite marks, then kicked himself for reminding him.

"Yeah, that bad eh?" Author raised an eyebrow "I think it would be safer if I take you around with me then leave you here... are you ok with that?"

"Yes, absolutely! I'll do whatever you think is right. Don't leave me here with rats! I can't do anything on my own here anyways." Rasa said looking over at the large lab room. He then walked in front of Author's chest as he made sure the others weren't looking in their direction. Not that they would notice a person just over an inch tall some 30 feet away...but still erring on the side of caution.

"Ok, I'm gonna lean forward a bit so you can hop in my left shirt pocket ok? It should be empty, I don't usually put stuff in my pockets." Author said as quietly as possible. Slowly he inched his left side forward and down, propping up his body with his left knee as a kickstand. He was able to hold that position until Rasa awkwardly climbed up in, making his way to the bottom seam.

Author laid onto his back again and gave a pained breath as the wires dug into his wrists. He leaned forward a little and was able to more or less sit up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed he coughed and spat out more blood from his missing tooth. He took some breaths to steady himself and to get psyched for the very stupid thing he was about to do.

"Hey. Assholes." He said angrily.

"Who said you could sit up?" Trent yelled and marched over. He grabbed Author firmly by the collar of his shirt and nearly lifted him off of the ground in one move.

Rasa fell to the far side of the pocket and was terrified of the huge dirty hand that came so close to instantly crushing him completely.

Author's shock was replaced with anger as he grit his teeth and wanted to spit blood at Trent but swallowed it instead. He managed to choke out, "If you let me go... I will tell you where.. we keep... the  _big diamonds_ ."

"What, you have bigger ones then these?" Trent said holding out a fist full of gems.

Author cleared his throat once the man put him back down roughly on the bed. "Of course we do, we have the machine remember? Is it still working?"

Trent took a few steps out of the storage room to check on it.

Author took the moment to glance downwards to his shirt and saw Rasa clutch his chest as he nearly had a heart attack from the tumble. Rasa took several deep breaths and gave a thumbs up to Author, he was gonna be ok. Author slowly winked a confirmation then addressed the bully.

"It's a complicated process but if you swear to leave here, I can send you a never ending supply of huge diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, gold, you name it. But. I will make nothing if you come back here. Don't even peek in my window or send me an email." Author said, not entirely sure he was making any sense because his head was throbbing with pain. His hands were still tied behind himself so he couldn't rub his temples to relieve the pressure.

"Give us what we want now and I might let you live."

"If I give you everything, what's to stop you from killing me? I'm not a fool. I also know you aren't stupid enough to let your money train die on you. Only I know how to make pathetically small diamonds like those as big as cars. Think about it, you can buy and sell the world with gems that big."

Rasa instantly understood where Author was going with the plan and hoped that the unstable jewels would last long enough to be taken far away from their house before they explode.

"Show me."

"Stop trashing my house and I will." Author said straight faced.

Trent stared him hard in the eyes and shouted at the others to stop.

"You better pray they didn't damage the power core." Author said as the big man cut off the wire binding his hands.

"You do the praying. And the paying." He chuffed at him.

Author brought his hands around in front and almost started to rub the wrists but he stopped when he saw that they were practically covered with blood still seeping out of the cuts on the tops of his wrists. He found and picked up a couple of pieces of fabric and after a pathetic attempt to tie it himself, Trent ordered Shauna to properly bandage his wrists so he wouldn't bleed to death before the job was done.

Rasa boldfaced lied about the cuts being superficial, but was forgiven. Author hated the sight of blood and if the roles were reversed, he would have stayed in the small house, going nowhere near the blood soaked fingers.

Author quickly washed his hands and face in the sink. In the mirror, he was almost afraid of his own reflection. He took out a tube of antibacterial cream and just covered his face with it, instantly feeling every single scratch, bite and sore wound on his face and hands. His leg kicked involuntarily at the sting and the others gave annoyed sounds at his stalling. He checked to see that his pocket still moved and gave a comforted sigh. He went over to the power source underneath the model and pulled over a toolbox to begin repairing some of the damage they inflicted.

"Might as well have a seat, this will take awhile." Author said from under the model's table.

"No! Make it work now!" Trent punched the model's work table.

Author growled and stood up straight and eyeballed the taller muscle bound man. He wanted to curse, punch, kick, bite, claw and pummel the man until he laid dead on the ground as both Author and Rasa quivered with rage. Author grit his bloodied teeth at Trent. Then took a deep breath and calmed down, there was no sense getting killed enforcing a 'stall for time' bluff. "It’s broken. I have to fix it. Blame them for the delay." He shot a finger to the others in the room.

Trent glared down at Author who stood his ground.

Rasa could actually see Trent from above and beyond Author's head and knew that he didn't have as much courage as his brother had at this moment. Rasa tried not to move at all in the pocket for fear of giving away his position and held his breath as Author's heart could be felt racing under the thin plaid shirt. The heartbeats actually knocked him around some because it was like being shoved over and over again by a living, breathing wall.

"You have one day to fix it. At the end of that day, we will kill you if we don't have what we want." Trent said coldly.

"It doesn't work that way, Rasa was the one that worked on the power core, and since he's not here, I have to figure it out using his notes." Author motioned towards the desktop littered with freshly torn papers and diagrams. "If you want it done faster, help me clean up this mess you made. But  _do not_ touch anything mechanical! Lord knows how much I already have to fix before I can get the machine to work again." Author said berating them.

"It would also go faster if we had Rasa now wouldn't it." Trent said looking at the city model. "So where is he?"

"I don't know." Author said flatly.

The girl piped up, "Bullshit, you saw how he reacted when he saw that rat. He thinks it can kill his little brother." Shauna stepped forward.

"I despise rats, those were Rasa's. I put them in the garage to get them out of here." Author said, rounding on her.

"I'm sure he hates them even more then you do, now that he is only one helpless little inch tall." Shauna said slyly as she picked up one of the rats from Vela. She stroked its fur and moved it around the room, waiting to get a similar reaction from Author.

He stayed as straight faced as he could until she got to the miniature house dome, then he remembered the mini dogs somewhere in the house.

"Ah, of course. I don't remember this being here before. How about you fellas?" Shauna said waving the rat all over the small house dome.

"Don't let the rat loose in there, we need Rasa alive." Dominic ordered.

"Aww, but it would have been so much fun to see him eaten whole." She pouted and dropped the rat on the floor.

"Catch it you bitch! What if Rasa is on the floor?" Dominic cussed.

"Don't call me bitch you scum sucking bastard!"

He grabbed her hair and forced her to the ground. "Pick it up or you're out of the gang. You will get nothing!"

Trent gave a look to Dominic and he backed off from Shauna.

"Bastard." She hissed but did as she was told, finding and picking up the rat. "Where do you want it  _Trent_ ?"

"I don't give a shit, just keep it away from this room. Get that other one out of the city as well. And do it fast! If Rasa dies we all have nothing." Trent said giving a nod to Author like they were now partners.

It turned Author's stomach to think of him helping out these would be murderers. Author shifted his attention to the opened hatches to the dome. Pulling out his flashlight from where the sky scraper used to be, and putting a fistful of rubble over the message that Rasa spray painted on the street, 'went home'. He scanned the model to see if there were any more hints that Rasa had been kept in the model. The C phone in the control house was kind of a dead giveaway, but he hoped it would be forgotten. To throw off the others he shut and sealed up the domes. Including the one with the house. Moving the whole thing casually out of the lab and to the storage room. He didn't know how to get the dogs out without the others noticing so he left them in the little house. Rasa would just have to take them out later. While still inside the storage room he whispered to Rasa, "Are you ok in there?"

"Yeah, how are you holding up?"

"Don't worry about me, just stay still and be quiet." Author whispered and tapped the top edge of his pocket to keep it more or less closed. "Found my flashlight." Author said to the others, leaving the spare room.

The others put the papers together on the desk and two were sifting through the rubble all over the floor around the sky scrapers. Bringing over a trashcan and throwing away the pieces of wall, furniture and floors. Being careful not to crush Rasa should he still be inside the buildings on the lower levels, it took time to sift so it kept the others occupied.

Trent looked at the bio-dome and saw something move in it. He waited to see it again and laughed when he noticed the cow move over to a patch of tall grass. "You didn't tell us you had a real live cow in here! Shit we could have had steaks!"

"I just added it and a horse a few days ago. Look close, you should see the horse in there." Author said next to the power core under the table, pretending to work on it.

"Is Rasa in here too?" Trent raised an eyebrow.

"I told you, I don't know where he went." Author again said flatly from under the model.

"I think you're lying."

"You have trust issues." Author did not look him in the eyes.

Trent huffed and sat down in Author's leather chair and leaned back in it. "Always wondered if it really was as comfortable as Rasa made it look." He shifted around and frowned at the chair. "Too small. Hey, what happened to the one that he threw through the bio-dome?"

"It's in the small house." Author said.

"Now why would you shrink your brother's old chair?"

"To get it out of my way. I was going to box up and move all of his old junk to that little dome house for storage. He can pick it up when he comes back. If he comes back." Author reached for a wrench and went back to work. "That little house was our prototype for the model, I thought he would want it to take with him."

"And would he have the means to re-enlarge his things when he comes back?"

"Don't really give a damn. I just don't want to look at his pathetic crap anymore." Author said giving a look at Rasa in his pocket. A little shake of his head to say 'I don't really mean it.'

"These guys aren't gonna leave until you give them something big." Rasa said. "What about the front path to the house? All those 4 inch jewels we use for stepping stones? The pearls for the sides? Give them those and we can get back to our own lives." Rasa suggested.

Author wanted to reply but couldn't say anything. He remembered the blinking lights of the message 'I want my C phone' and almost laughed. He swallowed all of the saliva in his mouth and with his tongue made very faint tapping and clicking sounds against the roof of his mouth with his lips sealed. In Morse code, he told Rasa, 'Those wont explode like a car sized diamond.'

"Then let's stop stalling for time and get him an exploding diamond already! You and I know that the machine still works fine." Rasa said. “Takes a lot more then what they have to break the machine.”

'Can you breath ok?' Author tapped out.

"Yeah, I feel fine." Rasa said.

'Then not yet.' Author tapped glancing downwards to his brother's confused face. 'We make you normal first, then blow up diamond.'

"They're gonna see me you know, and I don't know if I can take on four people with you. Especially since you look like shit right now."

Author bumped his shoulders forward and backwards quickly to make Rasa swing back and hit the chest with force.

"Ya big jerk!" Rasa laughed, getting back to his feet.

Author shushed him very very quietly, giving a sideways glance at the gorilla in his chair, going through his computer files and photos with dirty fat fingers.

"Oh, Trent can't hear me, no frickin way." Rasa said upwards. He stuck his fingers through an opening in the threads in Author's shirt, moving the strings aside to make a peek hole to see what was going on outside of the pocket. He hated not being in the loop, the last one to see what's going on.

"Hey Trent! I found a stash of receipts from a local cafe. They all date to when we were in the model so they must be Rasa's. Author, do you know why he went there so much?" William asked.

"What? Beats me." Author said sitting up on the floor. "I was in the model then too remember? He could have been running for president for all I know."

"Let's say we take a little field trip eh? Stretch our legs. Get up Author." Trent said hoisting him up by his bandaged arm.

"But I have to keep working on this, you can stake out that cafe without me. You know what he looks like." Author protested.

"Why is he getting so defensive? It's like he doesn't want to go grab a bite to eat." Shauna said as she studied his face. "Yeah, bring him with us. I just know Rasa will be there sooner or later."

"Clean him up first, can't have him walking around town like that, he'll scare the children!" The others laughed at him.

They let Author take a quick shower and change his bloodied cloths. Rasa climbed out of the shirt pocket on the counter, and took his own cloths off as well. He wanted to wash off the dried blood that covered nearly his whole body so he went over to the sink where water had splashed and pooled next to the soap bar. "I'm gonna have nightmares about this shit. I just know it." He said as he got his brother's dried blood out of his hair, skin and fingernails. Then went about washing out his cloths in a different cleaner puddle of water.

"Yuck." He wrung them out best he could and had to put them back on again because he didn't have a change of cloths. He couldn't get them completely clean so his shirt and jeans now had a maroon hue to them.

"Oh right, Art's got new cloths somewhere." Rasa had to act fast to find the other shirt pocket, and was shocked when he found out it was just a plain short sleeved t-shirt they threw in for Author to wear.

"Where the hell am I supposed to go now?" Rasa said as he wandered around the counter-top, looking for something that could be used to hide in. He hated the idea of getting into the jeans' pocket. Not only for the obvious body crushing reasons but because of the gross location one.

"No. I'd rather die facing the rats." Rasa said resolutely and went to the other end of the counter, looking for something, anything they could use. Their old toothbrushes were resting upright in the holder like lamp poles leaning over. A small decorative porcelain figurine of a dog towered over him next to bottles of cologne, soap dispensers and aftershave that appeared as buildings to him. None of which could be used to be carried around in without raising serious suspicion.

The water was turned off and a hand protruded from the shower curtain to grab a towel and pulled back behind the curtain. Author dried himself off and got out wearing it around his waist.

"What are you waiting for? Find somewhere to hide Rasa." Author whispered drying off the three bandages on his arms with a dry washcloth.

"There isn't anywhere. This is just a t-shirt." Rasa shouted upwards standing behind it on the counter.

"Shit." Author said and rummaged through the medicine cabinets but only found a tube of toothpaste, mouthwash, some large bottles of vitamins and a small container of Wintermint flavored Tic-tacs.

"Here we go." Author said and emptied out the Tic-tacs into the garbage. He then put the empty container on the counter in front of Rasa and started to put on his clean cloths.

"What, in here?"

Author nodded while facing the wall and zipping up his jeans. He then put on the t-shirt and tucked it into his pants, pulling it out a little at the bottom to look casual.

"Hey, it's either in there or you stay here alone, stuck on the bathroom counter top with rats somewhere in the house. Can't put you in my shoes because you would pass out from the lunging start and stop of just me walking." Author finished tying the laces and thought of the possibilities. He stood back up in front of the counter and looked into the mirror for a moment. Dismissing different places due to accidental swallowing, dropping or crushing, he then sighed and held out his hands and arms to have Rasa point out where he would rather be put. "I can't carry you around in my hands everywhere, they would notice something was up. Can you hold onto my hair for any length of time without falling off?" Author looked doubtful and ruffled his shaggy wet strands to dry them faster. He then gently moved the Tic-tac container closer with a shrug.

Rasa had to agree that it was the safest place. "Don't close it, I don't want to suffocate." Rasa said, awkwardly climbing into the empty container. "So humiliating."

The container was hastily shoved into the front pocket of the jeans as Shauna quickly entered the bathroom.

"Aww damn. I was hoping for a little peep show. Well come on, they're waiting." She said smacking his ass on the way out.

"Here, put on this jacket. Your arm and wrists look terrible, someone would notice that right away." She said and sat him down onto the couch just before leaving the house. She pulled out her makeup kit and using mainly concealer, she practically painted his face to look more natural, and less like a red, purple and blue mess of facial features.

"Sorry those guys were so rough on you, we just wanted your asshole brother." She said kissing his lips.

"And the rat bites?"

"I'm sorry about that too." She said almost sweetly.

They climbed into the back of a utility van in the driveway where Trent, William and the other man, Dominic were already waiting. Trent started up the van and was told where to go by Dominic who held a phone book map of the local towns on his lap.

Author sat down in the far back next to Shauna and saw the stash of guns and bullet cases in a canvas bag. He also couldn't help but notice the full roll of duct tape, ropes and shovels half way wrapped up in long plastic sheets. Shauna kicked them aside and winked at Author. "That was plan A. We're on plan B now."

He clenched his teeth at them. "You know I could have left you all in that model after the way you treated me that day. You all shot at me, threw rocks, tried to burn down my home with me in it. I had every right and reason to leave you all to die. But I didn't. As soon as I was free I let you all out, gave you a substantial amount of money and sent you home. I didn't  _have_ to do any of that for you guys." Author said. "If I did any of that shit to you would you have let me go? If I shot at you, beat you up, tried to burn you alive, would you have let me live?" Author kicked at the duct tape and shovels on the floor.

The others were quiet in the front seats for a time. They listened and thought about the whole situation from Author's point of view for the first time. Admitting to themselves that they would have left the brothers to die in the model, and not shown any mercy as Author had.

Shauna looked down at her purse and traced the outline of the pistol inside with her fingertips. "You boys stole our lives from us. Those stupid clones you made of us got themselves killed within days. No way in hell our old colleagues would be fooled into thinking they were us. They didn't have the colors or any symbols of the gang. So now, none of us have a life to go back to. Can't rise from the dead after five months. Even our families had moved on. You might as well have killed us." She said in a way that almost made it sound like she wished death would come.

Author didn't know what to say to that. So he sat quietly on the drive to the cafe. That was the reason some of the clones never returned back to base. He did not think about it at all until now.

"Are you sure this is the place? You brothers are supposed to be rich, why would Rasa go here?" William said.

The diner was authentically rustic with an air of being way too authentic, with literal rust falling off of the sign out front. They passed it twice before parking because it was almost hidden away down a side street that was not the one that was listed as it's address in the phone book.

They decided to park the utility van off on one end of the parking lot, close to an alleyway. William, Shauna and Dominic were posted outside around the cafe in hiding locations with high visibility of the area. Guns at the ready for Rasa when he shows up. Author and Trent went inside and decided to sit at the bar. There were only about ten other people in the diner and all seemed to be regular patrons. All of them instantly noticed the newcomers and muttered to themselves about who they could be, and why the shorter one seemed to be afraid of the larger. Trent ordered a steak and said Author would be paying. Author lost his appetite and rubbed his sore stomach where the punches hit hardest. He could only tolerate a single cup of coffee and sipped at it for over half an hour. He thought about his alternatives in escape plans as Trent watched the large old TV hanging from the ceiling.

Author and Trent sat at the counter that wrapped around the area to the kitchen for awhile, just watching people. They remained there until all of the regular patrons had left, replaced by the lunch crowd, save for two older men sitting at a booth. Author leaned over to Trent and said, "They think we are gay. You keep looking at me like that and the rest will think so too."

With a disgusted look, Trent told Author to relocate to the furthest booth so they could keep an better eye out for Rasa should he show up. Trent also wanted to watch on all of the other customers, and whenever they'd look his way he would talk loudly about sports and hunting.

Author, meanwhile, kept wondering if Rasa was ok in that little container in his pocket. He hadn't given any indication that he was even alive down there. Then Author figured that he wouldn't be able to feel anything or hear Rasa even if he shouted and kicked at the container.

Author, likewise, couldn't tap out updates as to what was happening because nothing happened for a long time. Author knew Rasa wasn't going to stroll into the diner because he arrived an hour ago already. After watching the weaving servers do the restaurant worker waltz for awhile, he had to perform a move just as swift and sure as their feet behind the scenes.

Out of the blue, Author told Trent that he had to go to the bathroom and when Trent stood up too, Author said, "Come along big boy, I want to spend some time alone with you." With a sweet tone of voice that turned his own stomach even worse then Trent's, just to say the line aloud.

Trent practically shoved him towards the restroom and warned him not to try anything stupid, that the others were watching both entryways. Author gave a nod and then slid past the patrons and counters on his way to the restroom, disappointed that the office door was stubbornly locked. He had hoped to slip in there and talk to someone who might be sympathetic to their situation but alas, no one was around so he went to the restroom. He looked for a stall with a door in the long, dirty bathroom but did not find any.

"Barbarians." He muttered and went to the last one against the wall and sat down.

He then carefully pulled out the Tic-tac container and examined the figure inside of it. He frowned when Rasa did not move. So he put his thumbnail in-between the white plastic lid and the clear plastic base and ran it along the edge, separating the sticker that held it together. Then tilted the container so Rasa would simply slide out of it and onto his left palm.

Rasa still did not move. Author poked Rasa gently on his side, as he had done before when he thought Rasa was dead and had a lump in his throat that could not be swallowed away.

"I know you've always had a problem with your severe motion sickness, always passing out at the first sign of trauma to your body but still...come on Ras... move, do something, say something." He poked again and finally Rasa turned over to lay on his back on Author's palm. Then sat up abruptly, yawned and scooted over to the fingers to get up and out of this large lumpy waterbed.

"Whoa there!" Author said as he turned his fingers upwards and Rasa somersaulted backwards down to the cup of the hand.

"What the hell?!" Rasa yelled as his eyes darted back and forth, still blurred from sleep his mind raced as to what was all around him. He tried standing but kept loosing footing as Author impulsively moved his hand left, right, front and back to keep the little man from moving too fast or rashly off the steep edge.

Finally he had to hold Rasa in place with his thumb and forefinger on his right hand and giving support for him with his left. "Chill out Rasa, it's me, Arthur.  _Look up_ you little dumb ass." Author said and tried to sound comforting. But all Rasa could think about was how to get the two huge fingers off of him as he was sure they were intending to squeeze the life out of him, it became obvious that Rasa was panicking so Author put him down on the wide plastic toilet paper dispenser. He leaned back on the toilet seat so Rasa could see his surroundings better.

"It's just me. I'm not out to get you." Author said calmly, trying not to move too rapidly because at Rasa's size, just about any movement around would make one dizzy and give vertigo. Agoraphobia was also a big problem when the ceilings were so far off in the distance above them like overcast clouds in the sky. Distances become insanely immeasurable.

Rasa was breathing unevenly and fell to his hands and knees and then sat down heavily onto the plastic toilet paper dispenser. He had to take a minute to get his bearings jerking his head here and there to see what else was going to spring out at him. He looked over and saw the massive wrinkled shirt behind a black jacket and followed it upwards with his eyes to Author's concerned face.

"Don't hyperventilate, it will change how long you have to safely breath this air. I mean, the green stuff - you remember right? The green stuff only has so long to be effective in your body, if you breath too fast then it shortens the time. So chill out there little brother." Author said.

Finally recognizing something familiar, his mind slowly cleared. "Oh yeah like that's supposed to calm me down! Your bedside manner sucks!" Rasa shouted upwards. Holding onto his chest he used his own relaxation methods to calm his heart rate and breaths. With a deep sigh he looked back up and said, "Where are we? It smells like shit in here." he grimaced at the scents and held his nose.

"In the bathroom of the cafe you used to go to when the rest of us were in the model. The four guys said that you came here nearly every day for weeks. You tell me why we are here."

"Oh. So... we are at Cup-O-Josephine's?"

"Yeah. What's so great about this run down diner?"

"Josephine." Rasa said almost sighing with delight. "She owns this store. I came in here, right after I put you in the model and turned the time field on. I was so mad at you I had to get out of the house. Couldn't stay because I was actually afraid of what else I would do to you. You know...we are so fragile this small. I didn't want to do anything rash so I left, drove around for awhile, and ended up here." Rasa said matter of factly.

Author was actually shocked and worried that his brother even thought of doing anything worse then what happened. Being knocked out then locked away in a model with dozens of people that had every reason to hate him, was certainly no walk in the park. But thinking that Rasa could have done a lot worse things to him was unbelievable. At least Rasa had enough sense to understand his own emotional limits and to avoid inflicting further hardships he left the house. In that case, it was a good thing Rasa came across this diner. Author always knew about his brother's knee jerk reactions. Like throwing his chair through the bio-dome because they had a little argument, it took them months to get the bio-dome activated and working properly so when he broke the dome it was an example of his hot headed impulses.

"Josephine really helped me out that day. Help sort me out. For awhile, I was so bullheaded I didn't want to think of your side of the argument. I kept coming in here day after day and she kept serving me coffee and listening to me rant about how you wouldn't listen to me and how you kept my hands tied as to what we should do with our scientific experiments. Mostly, I think she helped me out the best when she just listened. I'm not even sure now if she was just hearing me talk or actively listening but it helped. I stayed away from the model as long as possible because I didn't want to hurt you." Rasa said and sat down.

"I don't want to hurt you either. Brothers fight, we just have to remember that brothers also forgive." Author said.

"There you go again with that wise man talk. You're only five years older then me!" Rasa laughed.

"Well in five years you're gonna understand what I've been saying." Author smiled back.

"So what's the plan? Why are we here?"

"They brought us here waiting for you to show up walking in through the front doors. Since we both know that's not gonna happen, I don't know what they plan on doing. I suppose I could leave you here with someone, and come back for you later..." Author said leaning out of the stall and making sure they were still alone in the rest room. "Who would you trust with umm, you?"

"Well, even though I talked with Josephine every day, I never told her exactly what we did. Just that we had some disagreements. I don't know if she can take this. She seems nice enough... I just don't want to impose on her good nature. And, umm, this is gonna sound stupid but, she also has jittery hands. Like, they are always moving and twitching."

At first Author didn't understand why that mattered in having a safe place for Rasa to stay but then thought about it from his point of view. He almost laughed and said, "Yeah, don't want you getting brain damage, shaken baby syndrome. So we need to find someone with steady hands, someone who we can trust with keeping you safe for at least a day."

"Well, you're my eyes and ears on that. I can barely hear through the plastic container and the thick jeans pockets. Also just having you walk around, even though I know you were trying to be careful, was very trying for me. Imagine speeding along a really really hilly highway that curved left and right, going 70 miles per hour. Then stopping abruptly and going again at 75 miles per hour, it was like riding a roller coaster that kept going and going, oh and you're blindfolded and can't hear anything to let you know where you're headed next as you're being slammed around." Rasa said. "Yeah, that was fun." Rasa shrugged and let his arms drop.

"I'll try to be more careful."

"It's ok, I know you can't help it. The general cruising speed of driving and walking wasn't the bad part, it was the abrupt stop and reverse you sometimes do. Like, you take a step back whenever you stop walking somewhere. I noticed it years ago, never thought I'd have to deal with it. Course, it's not like you can walk in slow motion along side those assholes. They'd know for sure something was up. Speaking of, they might be wondering where you went off to for so long." Rasa said looking out of the stall at the urinals along the opposite wall.

"I told Trent that I would be taking a deuce in here, and if he followed me in, then the two old guys sitting in the booth would think that we were gay lovers." Author said, "I guess he's more worried about appearing gay to strangers then making sure his prisoner is secure."

"Too bad there isn't an easy way out of here for us. The back door is always locked and only the managers have the key. Hey is Josephine here?"

"I don't know what she looks like, she could be. Did you want me to leave you here somewhere? She doesn't have to hold you the whole time, we just have to make sure you're in a safe spot. Shit, a coffee cup on a shelf aughta do." Author said.

Rasa just gave a humiliated look and shrugged. "You know, I graduated the top of my class... with honors. And now, my choices in life are to ride around in a breath mint box next to my brother's waist for a couple of days, or hang out in a coffee cup on some dusty shelf in a diner." He said and added. "Mother would be proud."

"Mom would be proud no matter what you do. Dad too." Author said resting a hand on the paper dispenser next to his brother. "So which is it?"

Just then the door swung open to the bathroom and a booming voice echoed along the walls.

"Hurry up in there!" Trent shouted. He then walked to one of the urinals and proceeded to relieve himself at the one in front of the stall the brothers were in.

Author hastily brought up the Tic-tac container and Rasa nearly jumped into it. He couldn't find the white lid but had no choice, he had to put it in the jacket pocket, holding it upright in his right hand so it wouldn't tumble around in there. Author then unzipped and re-zipped his pants quickly and flushed the toilet. Waving his free hand in front of his face to make it seem like it reeked in there.

Trent held his breath until they got to the sinks.

"I told the others to bring the van around. Rasa isn't going to show up." Trent said without looking up.

Author wondered what he meant by that and just kept washing his hands.

"Looks like you're gonna have to fix the machine yourself. We've already wasted a day. The others are getting restless. We came to your house looking for revenge on Rasa and you for kidnapping all of us. You better keep up your end of the agreement or we will take it out on your bodies and not your wallets." Trent said and dried his hands with the automatic air dryer.

Author did too and forgot about the direction the hot air current went. Rasa felt it get very warm with the hot air circulating around and was panting before long. "This is intolerable!" Rasa said falling out of the little plastic oven.

He looked out of the loose jacket pocket and saw the enormous wall of a sleeve go by it a few times before resting a thumb along the inner part of the pocket pulling it downwards. Rasa had to scoot back to the opposite side to keep from falling out to his demise. He wanted to be more of a participant then observer in the activities and kicked at Author's thumb to get his attention. "Let  _me_ talk to him." Rasa muttered to the digit, tired of having his older brother be bullied around by this gorilla.

Author gently removed his thumb from the pocket and held it aloft inside. He put his forefinger inside the pocket slowly and turned the container to its side so Rasa could climb back in. All while trying not to raise suspicion.

Author left the rest room first and looked around the restaurant for something that would be safe and saw an empty coffee mug resting on a stack of boxes they passed by. He quickly took the coffee cup in one hand and poured Rasa out of the Tic-tac container into it. Giving a look to see he was alright, little Rasa was upside down with an annoyed look on his face but was mostly unharmed. The coffee cup was carried as nonchalant as possible below his waist as he kept it out of sight from Trent as they walked. "Hey! Don't ignore me!" Rasa shouted but was unheard because of the shuffling of fabric and clack of shoes on the floorboards.

Author decided to leave Rasa at the diner after all, because it was unsafe for the little guy to keep moving around with him everywhere. Author had a ominous suspicion that Trent was going to execute him right after the machine was fixed, and he couldn't allow his little brother to be caught up in the middle of it all, with no one to help get him back to normal.

While sipping the coffee earlier, Author wondered what would happen to his brother should Trent shoot Author and leave him for dead in a ditch somewhere before they even got to the house. There was no way Rasa could make it back to the house by himself in such a state. He would run out of air long before the cops even caught wind that there was something wrong.

Rasa would have a better chance at life if someone else, not involved in the situation, could help take him to their house later. After the other bastards had left or let their guard down. Author figured that Rasa could tell this new person what was going on and what to do. Rewarding them later with the fruits of their labor. Namely jewels and money.

If nothing else, the person that finds Rasa in the coffee cup would call the authorities and from there they could go to the house and arrest the four kidnappers. Probably Author and Rasa as well, once they discover what they had been doing all these years. But at least they would be alive.

Author just hoped that someone would see Rasa in the cup before filling it with hot coffee. He had to risk it. Anyone looking at little Tic-tac container with something that's not Tic-tacs in it would throw it away in an instant.

So while Trent was busy trying to exchange information with some waitresses, Author slipped over to the closest booth with amiable people at it. He gingerly placed the brown coffee cup down in the middle of the table and said very quietly, "Only look inside after I leave. This is extremely important. Handle it with care." He gave a concerned look at each of the older gentlemen and quickly went back over to Trent as he turned back around.

"Let's go." Trent said and shoved Author out of the diner.

Author and Trent passed by the front windows and the two very confused older men watched them get into the gray utility van and drive away, leaving skid marks in the parking lot.

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

C hapter Eight:  That's not Coffee

 

 

 

" D id that man nod at us after he left?"

"I think he did, why would he say a cup was so important?"

"Beats me, did you see that look in his eyes? So serious and almost even sad to see it go. What's in it anyways?"

"Dunno, lemme check."

The cup was tilted on its side at an angle to be viewed easier. The older of the two men brought out his glasses and leaned forward to peer inside. "Oh my lord!" He exclaimed and the coffee cup fell onto its side with a loud clink, it rolled over until it rested with the handle side down at an angle like a kickstand.

"What is it Tom?”

Tom just backed up away from the cup and stared wild eyed at it. He lifted a trembling bony finger and pointed to the inside of the coffee cup and was shaking all over. His white hair fell in front of his eyes and he brushed it away with a thin wrinkled hand. He kept looking up at his friend for confirmation that it wasn't an illusion. "Look." He said and reached a reluctant hand over to the cup, and spun it around for his friend to see.

"What is that? A mouse? I thought Josephine got rid of all of the mice in here. She said she spent a fortune on exterminators." The other one said taking only the briefest of glances inside. He hated everything that crawled on the ground.

"It's not a mouse, it's a man. A little tiny man." Tom said shaking. "Get your damned glasses on and look closer Paul!" Tom said grabbing Paul's arm and shaking it.

The cup was pulled in closer, angled upward again, and Paul squinted at it. He too trembled at the sight of its inhabitant. "It moved! Is this some kind of prank? No way is this thing alive, it must be fake." Paul sat it upright again and shoved it away from himself.

"I am not!" Rasa shouted from inside the dark brown coffee cup. He had an instant headache the moment the cup first fell onto its side. "Just let me out and I can talk to you."

"Did you hear that? I think it just said something." Tom said, pulling it over and tipping the cup again. Curiosity driving him to figure out what was going on.

"I said let me out!" Rasa shouted again, trying to keep balance in the twitching cup.

Tom gave a dumbfounded nod and let the coffee cup rest gently on its side. Rasa took a few deep breaths and bravely walked out of the cup and stood next to it. He looked up at the one in front of him, then walked around the cup to be seen by the other man. Paul was visibly scared of the small thing that moved around on the table top. Rasa knew he should stay still for at least a moment for them to contemplate what they were looking at. He certainly did not want to freak out that one called Paul. He gave the impression that he wanted nothing more then to smack the weird looking bug on the table. Rasa's heart was racing and it was all he could do to stand his ground under their watchful eyes.

The three stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Rasa swallowed the lump in his throat and decided to make the first move otherwise they would never get anywhere. He held up his hands at both of them, showing that he had nothing to hide.

"Ok.. umm don't freak out! I'm not here to hurt you and I would sure appreciate it if you didn't hurt me!" He shouted up to the younger one, as it seemed he could hear him better even though he was the more skittish one.

"We wont hurt you little fella." Tom said. Rasa turned around to talk to him instead of the younger Paul. He took a short jog on over to at least a foot in front of the old man, or 60 some feet by Rasa's standards. Tom leaned forward to see him better and removed his arms from the tabletop to rest in his lap, getting them out of the way. Rasa wondered if Tom thought that he would be bitten by him and that's why the old man removed his arms. "Where did you come from?" Tom asked with clear amazement in his voice.

"It's a long story. Where is my brother? The guy that put me on this table?" Rasa shouted.

"Oh that young gay man?"

"What?!" Rasa took a step back.

"I think they like to be called 'homosexual' now, Tom." Paul suggested.

"He's not gay!" Rasa shouted and wanted to laugh but knew there's a time and place. "What happened?"

"He left with his partner." Tom said looking outside the window.

"Which way did they go?"

"Down Herbert street in a gray van. They left in a big hurry. Why did they leave you?"

"I don't know." Rasa shouted and wondered about that himself. The loose plan was to be left on a shelf to be picked up later by Author, or left with Josephine. Maybe Author wanted these old guys to take care of him instead. In case time was short and Author couldn't come back for him. Rasa had a pang of fear run down his spine. What if, Author thought he was going to be killed and wanted to save Rasa's life by leaving him.

"I have to get to my brother! Can you help me? I can pay you!" Rasa shouted and walked closer to the younger man.

Paul backed up in his seat away from the little creepy crawler and was unnerved by its insistence on looking and sounding like a human. "What do you want me to do?  _What are you anyway_ ? Why don't you ask someone else?" Paul said putting up his shaking hands in front of Rasa to keep him from getting closer. "Get away from me!"

Rasa stopped dead in his tracks and tried to appear as harmless as possible but it seemed his presence was enough to be something terrifying. 'A first for a mini.' he thought to himself.

"It's alright Paul, he's not gonna hurt you." Tom said calmly. He knew of Paul's phobias and sometimes would try to work with him on getting over them. "Ok there little fella, you say you have to get going. Where to?"

"You can't be serious Tom. This thing isn't a man, can't be. What if it's just a trick played on us, it can't be real."

"Of course I'm a real person! My name is Rasa Tubris and I can explain it all later. My brother is in danger  _right now_ , I need you guys to help me out! Like I said, I can pay you." Rasa held out his hands pleading for help.

"Pay us? How can we use your little money?" Paul scoffed at him.

"I have huge diamonds as big as  _your heads_ ! Emeralds, pearls, gold, you name it back at my house it's all yours if you take me there and help rescue my brother from those assholes!"

A young waitress walked up to the table and absent mindedly righted the coffee cup and filled it to the top with decaf. "Can I get you anything Tom?" She asked putting the steaming decaf cup closer to Paul who just stared at her.

Tom shook his head and made sure the little man wasn't just squashed by the moved cup of coffee.

She smiled vacantly and walked away.

"Whatever we do we better get this guy out of here before he gets killed!" Tom said gathering up his things. "Paul, you go pay the bill, I'll meet you in the car." Tom said and looked around the table for something to hold the little man so they would be able to carry him safely.

Rasa looked around too and was glad that he was getting somewhere with these guys. At least the older one, Tom, understood how fragile Rasa was and actually cared what happens to him. He tried to plan out in his head what to do and guessed how long he had until the green stuff in his lungs dissipated. He still felt alright as far as breathing the normal sized air went, so he figured as long as he remained calm he had at least a day until he could become re-enlarged. He imagined that it wouldn't be a drastic change in his ability to breath, so he could gauge when it would happen. Previously, without the green stuff, it was a gradual change in the difficulty in breathing the air. He remembered watching Arthur starting off with a cough here and there, to having convulsions and spasms on his desktop when he started to suffocate. An immense feeling of dread and guilt came over him. Watching the small figure of his brother suffer, being so close to death in front of him... he wondered if these old guys would feel the same way watching him suffocate.

He started to sweat and hyperventilate, holding his sides he tried to calm down. There was no use worrying about what could have happened in the past, only what should be done in the future. He looked up to the old man smiling at something in his satchel next to him.

"Here we go." Tom said and produced a small pill bottle. It was about 8 feet in diameter and a dozen feet tall to Rasa as he looked way up at the opening.

Rasa regarded it without any semblance of glee. "I guess that's fine. Better then nothing..." He muttered quietly to himself. He walked around it and shouted, "Can you take out all of the pills first? Maybe put down something for padding?"

"What does it want?" Paul asked coming back to the table.

"It wants, oh sorry there little guy,  _Rasa_ wants some padding in this pill bottle before he gets inside."

"Here's a tissue.” He handed over, and watched Tom’s shaky hands try to fold it. “I better carry him till we get to the car because you loose your grip on things. No offense." Paul said.

“None taken." Tom said smiling, happy to hear the huge effort his friend was giving in trying to get used to little Rasa's presence. Paul was handed the empty bottle. He placed the tissue in the pill bottle with it padding all of the sides and then angled it on the table so Rasa could climb inside. It twitched slightly but was stable enough for Rasa to get in, then it was up righted again, slower this time, and Paul peered inside to Rasa sitting down and bracing himself against the walls.

"Can you put me in a shirt pocket instead of in your hands? It's easier for me that way... I uh, get motion sick from too much moving..." Rasa explained, hoping they could see the world from his point of view. He actually found himself missing the model. At least there, things were his size and he didn't have to worry about traveling via pockets and bottles held by extremely huge giants. Especially ones that had no idea about the implications and results of minor movements on such a small human body.

A billion and a half things could kill Rasa in an instant. Just staying alive with a functional body was a near insurmountable challenge as well. He was extremely lucky to only have bumps and bruises instead of broken bones and deep wounds so far in this oversized world.

His caretakers needed to be gentle but at the same time he didn't want these men to become too freaked out and paranoid about hurting him because then they might choose to do nothing at all. They needed to get out of the diner and on the road as soon as possible if they are to save Author from his abductors.

 

Meanwhile, unhindered from worrying about Rasa in his pocket, Author could enact his own plan. Trying to enlarge and explode a diamond without being hit with the huge shards that would inevitably fly out everywhere in a split second. Also, without hurting the machine the diamond came out of so that Rasa could safely be re-enlarged later when he is able.

He considered using the other molecular modifier in the garage that they had used to make furniture, cars, and the like smaller, but the change in location might make the others wonder what was up. He never told them about the other machine. So he wondered if he could get away long enough to reprogram the one in the garage to enlarge inanimate objects again. Since its previous setting was to make the horse and cow smaller. It would take a substantial amount of time which Rasa might not have.

In addition to thinking up ways of disabling or even killing off the kidnappers, he had to worry about how Rasa could be reached again, brought back home and re-enlarged. He hoped that the two older men he left Rasa with, would be open minded enough to help him out.

He also wanted to test on the rats again. Miniaturize them, re-inject the green stuff and try to bring them back before the green stuff is used up in their bodies. Just to see if it has a major effect on their molecular biology and if they will live without major breathing problems. He really didn't like rats but knew that their physiology was fairly similar to a humans. That's why he tested on them first.

Trent and the others were rummaging around the rest of the house for other valuables, and could be heard from everywhere in the main house. Author knew that even though they were plundering in the upper floors, they would still be keeping an eye on the exits, making sure he wouldn't take off on them.

Trent was sure that Author was scheming something but couldn't prove it. The others, for the most part, were gradually becoming content at just taking the money and running, but Trent wanted it all, he still wanted revenge. Already they found millions of dollars worth in jewels and things around the house but it was nothing compared to the billions that the same jewels  _could_ be worth. Their ever mounting greed kept them from leaving.

Author considered shrinking himself again and going to Rasa's little house to use that mini laptop computer to reach the outside world. His own regular sized computer and all of the phone lines were severed from the house, but Rasa's was set up using their separate satellite dish on the roof, a system that did not require cables or wires to the small model house. He stared long and hard at the house and remembered that Rasa had his two mini dogs somewhere inside.

He then opened up the tiny door and looked in through the windows to locate the miniature dogs. Then had the idea of using the virtual reality gear and the remote controlled robot to go into the house instead of shrinking himself.

He snuck out of the lab and made sure the others were not around. Then donned the gear and had the robot go look for the dogs and Rasa's computer in the little house. The dogs were found in the bathroom and he let them out. They barked defensively at the robot but stopped to go look for their old master around the little dome. The robot went to the bedroom and then office and found Rasa's computer still on, but with the lid shut. He discovered that Rasa was indeed lonely but not just for his brother's company.

"Sick Ras..." he shut down the porn sites that littered the screen.

He went to several sites on the web and tried to think of the best one to try to reach the authorities. Then thought about what exactly to say to best explain the situation so they don't go running in with guns blazing. Also, what could be said so he wasn't arrested for kidnapping as well as the 4 others in the house. Evidence in the outside world would show that the four kidnappers were all listed as deceased months ago. But since they were criminals in their previous lives, there weren't many people that wanted an investigation into their deaths. It was almost listed as a happy accident that they (the clones) were gunned down in the various deals gone bad. He figured that there were no autopsies done on the clones, because they hadn't heard of any 'mysterious new groundbreaking cyborg technology' discovered lately.

"Damn it. How do I get rid of these guys, and bring Rasa back in here?" Author said searching through their old social networking sites for online friends in their area.

"Good question Author." Trent said directly behind him.

Trent tore off the helmet and gloves that Author was wearing as he jolted back to reality. Author was shoved harshly to the ground and Trent put on the goggles to see what Author was doing.

"So this is your newest little model. Kind of pathetic don't you think? You even built it to look like cobbled together shit... why not make it a mansion?"

"Because we didn't grow up in a mansion. Our family worked for what we got." Author growled, wiping off his forehead.

Trent put on the gloves and using the miniature robot, he called over the dogs from the tiny living room. "Here puppies. Come here."

Author cocked his head at Trent who seemed to be stroking the head of an invisible dog in front of him.

"There's a good puppy." He said and held onto its neck in his hands. He faced Author on the floor, but still could only see what the little robot was looking at.

"Tell me where Rasa is or I will kill the mutt." His hands were together making a circle in the air and moved around to make the invisible dog sit down.

Author gaped at him. "I told you I don't know where Rasa is!"

"Good bye Pooch." He said and twisted his hands together in the air and let the invisible dog fall to the floor. Trent frowned at the floor in front of his feet and then lifted his head and seemed to be looking around for the other dog.

"Leave them alone!" Author shouted getting to his feet.

Trent ripped off the goggles and held onto Author's neck with the gloves. "Where is Rasa." He asked and squeezed Author's throat. He practically lifted him off of the floor by his neck.

Author's eyes rolled around as he clawed at Trent's arms to let go. He squirmed around but the sadistic grip became tighter. Author's arms and legs fell limp and his eyelids fluttered.

Trent grit his teeth and spat at Author in the face, dropping him callously to the cracked cement floor.

Shauna leaned against the doorway wearing the jewelry of their mother around her neck. "So only you get to kill him? Why didn't you save some for the rest of us." She asked, quite livid, hiding it under a pouting frown. "He was supposed to give us the huge jewels first, what happened?"

"He knew where Rasa was but refused to talk. He also was planning on getting rid of us."

"Well duh. We all knew that." She said to him and kicked at Author's leg on the floor. "You didn't kill him. Was that a mistake? Do you want me to finish him off? We don't have to tell the others... we could just say it was an accident."

"No. He needs to learn who is really in control here." Trent said and kicked Author in the ribs. He sneered at the colorful jewelry around her neck. "Take that cheap shit off, it doesn't suit you Bitch."

"Screw you. You wouldn't know real beauty if it shot you in the face." She said and pulled out her pistol. Rising it slowly to his head she smiled at him with her eye in the sights, lining up the shot.

"Try it Bitch." Trent said and stared her down.

She shot at him and it grazed just past his face and took with it the right side headphone to the helmet. She then laughed gleefully and ran up to him. Kissing him all over his chest and face. "Oh how I  _love_ it when you call me  _bitch_ ." She said sweetly nibbling on his shirt collar and feeling up his body.

He wiped off the gun powder mark from his cheek and put a muscled arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head. "Hey, put on this helmet and gloves. Author is still wearing the boots. I need you to get those dogs out of that little house before they suffocate in there. The bastards didn't set up a way for them to breath in the little house. Now that is just too cruel isn't it?" Trent said and looked at the two barking dogs in the house, going from window to window trying to warn off the huge intruders. "He actually thought I would hurt those dogs. Do I really look that mean?" Trent frowned at her.

"Sometimes. But only I know you're just a big softie sweetheart." She put on the helmet and using the remote controlled robot, rounded up the two dogs and took them both outside of the small house to the circular edge of the yard.

Trent then picked the dogs up and put them in the bio-dome with the horse and cow, then sealed it again.

"Only those two brothers should be punished for their crimes. Remember that." Trent said and tapped the glass dome to the small forest.

"Help me tie him up to that chair. He can be used as bait for Rasa." Trent said and went to the computer at the desk. He told Dominic to reconnect the phone and cable lines to the house then browsed the web for any information on where Rasa might be. Checking out recently viewed websites for houses for sale, vacation getaways, maps, and other travel websites if Rasa wanted to make a break for it. Apparently Author was unable to find anything on Rasa's computer in the small house so he left it alone.

Trent checked his watch and then went over to the city model. He ran his hand over the areas that the bullets broke through the domes that morning. The holes were small, but the air was no longer contained properly and must have been leaking out into the room faster then the bio-dome could replenish it.

"If Rasa was hiding in here he only has about half an hour left of breathable air." He opened up the main hatches for Vela and Argo. In a loud voice he said, "Rasa, if you are in here, we have your brother. If you do not show up at his control house, we will kill him in front of you. You have thirty minutes left to breath, so make them count." He then shut the hatches, put duct tape over the bullet holes and turned up the overhead room light brighter. He was mindful not to make it too intense because it might fry the skin off of Rasa, he just wanted to see the whole model better. He then wheeled Author over to the model and parked it in front, duct taping Author's head to the back of the chair so it could remain upright. He moaned a little in his sleep and his eyes twitched with discomfort whenever he took a deep breath.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

C hapter Nine:  One Tough 15 ft Cookie

 

 

 

" O k, umm, where do you live little guy?" Tom asked Rasa in the pill bottle.

"Northwood and Wyandotte, it's pretty far from the city, but not in the farmlands to the north." Rasa shouted. He then coughed some. His throat hurt and he convinced himself it was because he had to shout so much with these guys. Sometimes he would take a minute to feel his chest move when he took a deep breath and noticed a slight rattle in his lungs.

"Just a cold... that's it. I also smoke sometimes, so it's probably just some tar buildup..." Rasa muttered to himself. He looked straight up and was beginning to get disgusted at the sight of huge folds of dry skin hanging down from Tom's neck and face. Deep wrinkles all over his skin looked like cracked earth after a drought.

"When I get back to normal I'm sending these guys to a plastic surgeon to get that fixed." He then shuddered when Tom wiped his nose with a large wrinkled finger just overhead. "Oh that's so gross." He said then caught himself being rude. "Shut up Rasa, he's helping you out. Can't you be nicer? What did  _you_ look like to Arthur? Leaning over his house in the model?"

Rasa felt around his own face and found a bumpy mole under his chin, only partially hidden under his scrubby beard and mustache. He pulled at a few longer hairs on his chin and thought about trimming the mess back to his old signature goatee. He frowned when he discovered that he too was started to get some deep wrinkles in his face and neck. He was suddenly thrown to the other side of the pill bottle and back again when the car made a slight swerve to avoid a pothole.

Tom and Paul didn't realize that every movement had such a big impact on Rasa.

Rasa cursed and sat down at the bottom of the bottle and tried not to look up anymore at Tom's chin or the ceiling of the car far overhead. Instead, he read and reread the words written on the outside of the bottle when the light bled through. The words were of course backwards but it helped to pass the time, by thinking up anagrams for the ingredients of the pills that used to occupy this bottle. The smell from the pills still lingered in the bottle and after awhile he couldn't smell anything else but.

The car turned again and he slid quickly onto his left side. He decided to only focus on staying upright by holding his arms and legs straight out in front as he sat up on the tissue in the bottle. He found that pretending that he was just in a roller coaster thrill ride helped his mind cope with the sudden movements, and even tried to enjoy the ride. The tissue padding was a major improvement in transportation comfort. The Tic-tac container was like being beaten by 4 walls every few seconds of movement. That must have been the reason he was missing so much time. He vaguely remembered waking up all dazed and confused on Author's palm, then remembered sitting on the plastic toilet paper dispenser. He didn't actually remember leaving the container of his own volition... 'Author must have pulled me out, or dumped out more like' he scoffed.

"Nice Arthur... just dumped me out like a breath mint." he said to himself.

"My house is just up here come to think of it, why don't we stop for a bit?" Paul suggested and Tom agreed. Before Rasa could protest they had already turned up a long driveway and got out of the car.

"Just be sure not to put that guy down and forget about him, I do have cats and it looks like my grand kids came over to visit." He said to Tom.

Tom nodded and then covered up the pill bottle with his other hand making it uncomfortably dark for Rasa.

From inside, Rasa could hear them talking with some other people and the bottle was lifted and dropped like flying over tall hills with sickening waves of movement as it seemed that Tom was holding it aloft above the kid's hands. Being thrown side to side made him sick to his stomach and the kids pleading for the new toy chilled him to his bones. Rasa's heart was beating fast as he thought of little kids getting a hold of his bottle, or worse yet, the cats!

The air pressure in the bottle was throbbing as it was released and recovered with the movement of the huge wrinkled hand over top. Rasa's ears kept popping harshly with every move.

"Screw safety! Just put me down!" Rasa shouted as he clutched the sides of his head to keep his ears pressurized. He could still hear the deep rumbles of Tom speaking and it sounded like he wanted someone else to hold the bottle.

The hand was lifted and Rasa shot a look upwards to see what was going on.

"Oh my word!" A woman shrieked at Rasa.

He thought it was lucky that his hands were already over his ears because the high pitch of her voice would have left them ringing for hours. "Aaackkh! Be quieter please!" Rasa shouted upwards.

"What is it? Where on Earth did you find it?" She asked.

"This little man was left on our table at Josephine's. He says his name is Rasa and that his brother is in trouble." Paul said, taking the bottle from Tom. He held it at an angle for her to see him better.

Rasa slid to his side, nearly upside-down, and gave an unfriendly look to the gawking giant.

"You mean there are more of these?" She gestured to Rasa as if he was an insect.

He was getting pretty pissed. Tom and Paul sat down at the dining room table and placed the bottle on a clear spot close to the center. He could feel and hear things being taken off of the table to clear it off sending a few cat hairs to waft in the air overhead, one slid inside his bottle. He picked it up and gulped at its gray colored length thinking it must be a long whisker, but realized it was too soft and bent - it was actually a regular strand of fur. It was way longer then he was tall. He put it down behind the tissue so he wouldn't have to think about how dangerous and immense the animal this one hair belonged to. He listened to the other adults sit down and the younger kids were ordered to go play outside.

"Make sure the cats are put away there Margaret. Coco is under the table here, and Lucy is usually on our bed. Just lock them up for now, after we leave, you can let them back out." Paul said.

Rasa was unnerved to think of the owner of that strand of fur was underneath him but was relieved as he heard it being taken away from the room and a door latch shut.

After a few minutes of huge gawking heads peeking over the opening in the bottle, it was slowly turned on its side and Rasa sat down miserably inside of it. He didn't want to be a performer like some freak show for these local bumpkins and hated the idea that he was just an oddity that they wanted to see and talk about.

"Come on out here little fella, no one is gonna hurt you." Tom cajoled.

Rasa huffed. Rather then being spilled out of the bottle, he decided to just get it over with. He still needed their help in getting back home. He stood up and walked out of the bottle and looked around the enormous table at the six people sitting there. The table seemed to go on forever and he could almost swear to see the curve of the Earth at the ends. The people sitting at it all leaned forward to him, and there were a few more then he expected.

"Can I touch it?"

"No, I don't think he would like that."

"What does it do?"

"Same as you, he's just a little person." Tom said gently smiling at Rasa.

"It's name is Rasa? How many more of these are there?"

"He's the only one I think, and stop calling him 'it'." Paul said, berating his daughter. He gave a respectful nod to Rasa and Rasa nodded back. Finally he was getting some respect.

"He must be hungry! He looks so thin, what would you like Dear?" Margaret asked getting up from the table.

"I dunno, doesn't matter." Rasa shouted. He didn't realize how hungry he was until now, and his stomach growled at him.

A plate of extremely delicious smelling soft cookies was placed before him and he just stood and looked over and up at the tall delectable mound, hopelessly out of his reach. He looked at the other people around him and felt weird asking for help. Paul and his daughter reached over his head and took one each and started munching away.

"Mmm, Mom you make the best cookies. You should really try them Rasa." She inched one closer to the edge of the plate.

"Put it on the table for him, he can't reach it up there." A 30 something man said at the other side of the table. He had his head lowered closer to the tabletop and smiled at Rasa who turned around to face him.

"Thanks.." Rasa said and kicked off a chunk of the 15 foot cookie. Then broke it up in his hands so he could fit a crumb of it into his mouth. "Yeah, that is pretty good." He said taking several more bites. Slipping some into his pants pockets for later because who knows when he could eat next...

"What would you like to drink?" Margaret beamed at Rasa then the rest of the table.

"Water is fine, but not a lot..." Rasa shouted.

"I don't think I have anything small enough... let me look around."

An energy drink cap was unscrewed from a Pangal Blaster by the man and handed over. He looked to be just under Rasa's own age and was fascinated by the sight of him. His features and cloths gave the impression that he worked in high pressure sales, or in an office somewhere where appearance standards were a little lax. Still, he had a kind smile and eyes that studied Rasa's every move, but not in an intrusive way, he wanted to learn everything about him. Of all the people at the table, he appeared to 'get it'.

"What's your name?" Rasa asked him, jogging closer to his end of the immense table.

"Steven. And my wife's name is Arlene, our kids are out back, Heddie and Elaine." Steven said pointing out his family. "What is your brother's name Rasa?"

"Arthur, well, he changed it to Author just recently. I've been trying to get used to it but it's difficult." Rasa said. He found it easier to talk with Steven, as he didn't have to shout as much. He decided he liked this guy and briefly thought of asking him for the help instead of the old guys. Rasa noticed that there was still another young lady at the table that hadn't spoken yet. He jogged on over to her and addressed her next.

"Hello." He said and she blushed, bit her lower lip and fiddled with her hair to make it look nicer.

"This is Kelly, my youngest sister." Arlene said resting a hand on her shoulder. "She's shy around new people."

Kelly shoved Arlene and blushed some more in front of him. Rasa reluctantly figured that Kelly was attracted to him. She appeared to be about 16 and wore a light dress. As she got up from the table to leave, she kept stealing suggestive looks to the little man, even batting her eyes at him and giggling.

It made him feel like a pedophile even though she was the one coming onto him.

"Yeah she's always been hot for guys with goatee's. Don't mind her." Arlene said waving a dismissive hand at her younger sister as she left the room with a swooning smile.

"Well, I would love to stay and chat but we have to get going." Rasa shouted hastily to the others. He wanted to get far away from the young 'Kelly' as soon as possible. He sensed she wanted to keep him as a kind of cute boy toy even though he was well over twice her age. He could tell she was already planning something and wanted nothing to do with it.

"We'll come with you Rasa, I never leave a person in need." Margaret said dutifully and searched for her purse.

"No, no. Where we're going it is not going to be safe. Rasa said that his brother is in real danger, we have to get him to his house and help save him." Paul said to his wife Margaret.

"What kind of danger? I can help." Steven said standing up from the table and giving a nod to Rasa. "You look like a decent person, and there's too many people in the world that want to hurt others. I'm sick of it, and I want to help." He said walking around the table to the two older gentlemen.

Rasa thought about the offer, Steven would definitely be able to take on someone in a fight. He appeared to be genuine in his demeanor and Rasa watched him as he kissed his wife and looked out of the window to the children playing outside. Steven gave the 'wait' motion and went out back to say goodbye to his kids.

"Shouldn't we call the cops? They are trained for this kind of stuff right?" Margaret said.

Rasa waved his arms for attention. "No! No cops! It would take way too long to explain everything and they might think my brother was a bad guy too." Rasa shouted. Secretly he knew for a fact that both he and his brother were also 'bad guys' that should have been put away awhile ago for mass kidnappings. But that doesn't mean that they deserved to be murdered by their former captives.

"If officials get involved they may be too distracted by me and my stature, and forget all about my poor brother. His life is all I care about. Once I get back to normal, I can handle it all by myself. All I need you guys to do is to get me there!" Rasa shouted up to the guys.

"I can do you one better, I will help you take those guys out." Steven said standing up with fists at his sides.

"You sure? Well, alright." Paul said patting Steven on his back. Rasa wondered if that was why Paul wanted to stop over at his house, to recruit able bodied people.

"Your husband is a good man." Tom said holding onto Arlene's shoulder. "We can always count on him."

"Steve, a word?" Arlene said and they disappeared into a side room for a few minutes.

Rasa watched the whole family move around and give hugs to each other. Saying their goodbyes and giving encouraging glances at Rasa.

It actually made him feel like shit.

This family was willing to go face some nameless enemy for someone they had just met. If Rasa was able, he would have preferred to just leave on his own to go save his brother. But as it was, he couldn't even get off of the table he was standing on. If it weren't for Author needing help, Rasa would gladly take his chances with the world without anyone's aide or support.

His attitude to these people went from thinking of them as local bumpkins to honorable soldiers. Author had it right all along, trust in humanity's courageous strengths and forgive their weaknesses.

"You can trust me." Steven said knocking on the table close to Rasa in lieu of a handshake. Rasa felt the tremor in the table and was not at ease with it. Steven left to talk to the older guys about something off in the living room.

Rasa had a inkling of dread at the confident words as the last time he heard them, Author shoved a big needle into his arm inadvertently prolonging his stay in this little form. Rasa followed that train of thought and knew that if he didn't take the green goop to the arm, Author would have continued to keep him inside the model. Then, when Trent and the others arrived the very next morning, Rasa would surely have died several times over from their attacks on the two cities and the rats crawling and chewing everything they could get to. So it actually was a good thing he trusted his brother, took the green goop and was taken to the small domed house. Later to be rescued by Author from there before the others found it. It was almost like a catch 22, Author changed his mind about keeping Rasa miniature when he thought he was dead from taking the green stuff. But with the green stuff in his body now, he could not be re-enlarged, and therefore had to stay miniature longer. Greatly increasing the odds that he would die from other unforeseen causes.

The pill bottle was moved closer to Rasa distracting his thoughts. Steven smiled hopefully at him.

He took an uneasy breath and climbed back inside the bottle. He would just have to trust these guys with his and Author's life. The bottle was righted again and Rasa instantly noticed the smoother ride as Steven carried him out of the kitchen, passed the living room, stopping briefly to open the front door, and finally into a truck that was in the driveway.

"Hey uh, Steven? This is gonna sound weird but, it's easier for me if I ride in a shirt pocket instead of being held... less movement and risk..." Rasa said, not able to see what was going on around him, just above.

"Oh sure, hang on." Steven said and put the pill bottle onto the dashboard for a few minutes.

Rasa started getting worried that he was going to be forgotten up there and as soon as they pulled out of the driveway, the bottle would surely be flung to the floor some hundred feet down. He held out his hands to the sides of the bottle and prayed he would be picked up again soon, or at least secured in place. He felt the ground move around and heard a belt buckle being fastened. He heard the tell tale clicks of a radio dial being turned with a louder click for the ‘off’ position. Rasa breathed a sigh of relief. Steven knew that loud noises would probably hurt his ears and turned off the radio before the vehicle was even turned on.

"This isn't their car..." Rasa said upwards. The ground shifted again.

"No, it's mine. We can't take the old mans' beater into battle. It can hardly make it across town without shaking some rust loose." Steven said laughing.

Rasa felt the truck tilt to the other side and it was now more even, he assumed someone got into the passenger side. He tried to look out but couldn't see any hint of who it was. The bottle was picked up again and he saw the ends of long strands of hair flit by the opening. One of the women got in instead of Tom or Paul.

"Put him in your shirt.. oh wait. Ok, that will do haha." Steven said quietly. "Just wait until we are out of the driveway first before you do that."

"Huh?" Rasa was puzzled what he was talking about because the only things he saw were a white garter belt hanging from the rear view mirror and the overhead light for the truck's cab. The bottle moved downwards to someone's lap. All he could see was a rippling sea of fabric overhead. "Who had this shirt on at the table?" He asked himself trying to picture the whole thing from this 10 foot sample.

"Just wave at the old guys, make them think we are going to his house.” Steven said to the passenger.

“What?” Rasa shouted upwards out of the pill bottle.

The fabric moved away and he could see a hand waving to someone far above his head.

"Bye Mom and Dad! We will be back before you know it!" Arlene waved out of the window as the truck began to accelerate.

"Ok, they can't see us anymore, heh, go ahead Honey." Steven said with a vaguely disturbing laugh.

The bottle was raised and moved left and right like a see-saw until it rested in the middle of the woman's chest. Arlene looked down and adjusted herself until the bottle was secured and bounced with every movement that she made. She laughed and it jostled Rasa around which made her laugh harder.

"Ohhhkay.... this is so umm...." Rasa said looking up to her slender face beaming down at him. "Could be worse. Most men dream of this kind of thing..." He chuckled as his bottle bounced up and down in-between her breasts.

He never realized how much motion occurred on a woman's chest until now. They simply wouldn't stop moving! Her body heat radiated into the bottle and he was actually getting pleasantly warm from it. Before, it was hard for him to keep warm because his own body heat was stolen from him every time a slight breeze went by, which was all the time. Right now in fact, the perfume Arlene was wearing was being wafted around the truck and down her lovely chest to greet him.

Trying to stay focused at the job at hand, he attempted to block out where he was, and how nice it was to be there.

Especially since her very sizable and well-built husband was sitting right next to her.

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

C hapter Ten:  Family Jewels

 

 

 

“ S o what did you do with all of the Faks?” Trent asked the woozy Author.

“Why do you care?” He said with his head leaning to one side. It was still strapped to the chair but the weight of it made it sag.

“Just curious. Shauna was talking about taking a couple for uh, what was it again?” Trent shouted out of the lab to Shauna in the store room.

“Sex.” She shouted back.

“Right. Sex toys.” Trent said giving a sick grin.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Author asked, then realized he  _really_ did  _not_ want to know.

“Well, seeing as how they are metal underneath that flexible plastic stuff for skin and muscles, they would be soft to the touch but strong enough to hold up for the inside job.” Trent said.

Author wanted to throw up.

“Oh like you’ve never thought of using them that way.” Trent scoffed at Author's look of disgust.

“I thought it was a great idea, I mean, for people with fetishes.” Shauna said coming back into the room.

“So where are they?”

“Like I'm gonna tell you now!” Author said sardonically.

“Never mind, I'll find them somewhere around here. I already found your prototypes for the model. Might get something for them on eBay.” She said holding up a box of 5 simple looking robots, three inches tall.

“These would have been like 18 feet tall for us in the model, what was the original model like?” Trent said, playing with the robots little limbs. Author did not like him touching the robots at all, especially these ones as they had a lot of fond memories that were being sullied with the thought of their questionable future with Trent and Shauna.

“Rasa and I built 3 models in the early years, we were just teenagers back then.” Author said and almost laughed at the idea of him reminiscing on his past, almost like having his life flash before his eyes, but being able to share the stories with the people that might soon end his life. “The very first model was built with Dad before the accident.”

“What accident?”

“Our dad died in a plane crash. He invented a plane that could fly, and then land on water.” Author said proudly.

“Big deal, they've had those for ages.” Trent said.

“Yeah but Dad's plane could then go  _under_ water. It was only capable of going ten feet under but that was an achievement. It had to be perfectly sealed and pressurized just right for flight and submersion. But Dad didn’t want to stop there. He wanted to create a kind of force field around the plane so that it could dive deeper without making it heavier. You see, the materials needed in the plane's structure had to be lightweight enough to fly, but for submarines the structure has to be super thick and strong enough to withstand the outer pressure of water at deep sea depths.” Author said. “A force field doesn’t technically weigh a thing. It's basically the manipulation of special energy that is used in the bending of matter and space around the central core of the object, like his plane. He accidentally discovered that the field also bent time around it. Inside, a long time would pass while it was turned on, but outside time would continue on as normal, but appear to be standing still or at least slowed way down.” Author said to the confused faces.

“What?”

“Ok, umm, well, you guys had lived in the model with me for a long time while it was turned 'on', so you know first hand what that is like. Outside of that model, life went on as normal time progressed, but the inside of it was sped up and seemed normal for us there. Rasa and I fixed our Dad's original machine to alter the time using the field's frequencies. We haven't invented a word yet for what we do, so I am sorry if it doesn't make much sense to ya. Super sciencey stuff." Author shrugged, he did not want insult their intelligence but it was a simple fact that they wouldn't understand him even if he spelled it out. Even so, he still felt compelled to tell these two the basic history.

"So anyway, the Faks were turned off when the force field shut off because we built in a kind of biological clock failsafe into their brains. Normal time would make their clocks come to a complete stand still. Frozen in time. Let me tell you that was almost as hard as making matter smaller.” Author said, looking over to the miniaturization tube.

"Changing the flow of time in any way shape or form is always unpredictable. Even Einstein said that time is relative, not only how we view it and measure it but as it is. Time is as fluid as water and can be manipulated. It's just really hard to do, like trying to change the current of a river. It wants to go where its always been, but it's not impossible to change it. Here's the thing, if you no longer force the current of time to go where you want it to, like the river, it will return to where it always went."

Author looked down at his feet and continued, "Rasa once said that he thinks we rip a hole in the space/time continuum every time we turn the model on and off. Maybe even creating a new alternate reality that only exists while the model's field is on. I'd hate to think that was the case. Like, maybe those people and events are only real during that time, and are arrogantly exiled from existence at our command."

"I don't think that's what happens. You're getting way to philosophical. The events happened, it doesn't matter when they did or how long time passed on which side of that field. The events happened on this plane of existence because we remember them, if they were 'banished' to some other reality, then how could we even know about them? You can't go back in time, only accelerate it, so I don't believe that you are creating an alternate reality just because time moves differently." Trent understood the basic idea around what Author was saying and wanted to learn more. He put down the robot on the desk and leaned forward as Author continued.

“So anyway, getting back to basics.. the first model we built with Dad was a replica of the house he grew up in. He told us all the stories from his childhood with his sisters and cousins in that house. The model was built and perfected bit by bit and was pretty impressive after awhile.

Rasa and I loved robots and Dad allowed us to make some that fit inside the house. I was only 23 and Ras was 18 at the time but the robots were still pretty advanced. Home computers were only just coming out, but we were already making little robots with simple artificial intelligence. Basic, want/need commands. We also taught them to like and dislike stuff. It sounds easy enough just saying it but telling a robot to  _like_ something or  _dislike_ it is a radical concept in general. Throughout the total history of machines and technology, they've always done what we build or command it to do. Never asking the machine what it wants to do because  _it_ doesn't want to do anything, it does what it is told and that's that." Author looked at the box with the 5 robots in it and smiled fondly at them. Trent looked too and understood that these were the same robots. He handled them with more care now, knowing their history.

"Dad was more interested in the force fields for his plane anyhow, helping us out sometimes with the more complex problems dealing with AI. Rasa and I took to the robots like bees and honey and rarely needed the help but were grateful for it anyhow. So anyways, Dad was called to a secret meeting with some government guys and he decided to fly the new prototype plane there, to show off what he was capable of. We were never told why the government wanted to see him, maybe they caught wind of what we were doing and wanted to see it for themselves. Dad saw it as an opportunity to do business with them and wanted to make a great first impression with his latest prototype. He turned on the field just before landing on the base and it vanished without a trace in front of everyone’s eyes.”

“Where did he go?” Trent asked.

“We don’t know... and that’s the hardest part, not knowing where he went. It would be easier to cope if there was a body, a message from the great beyond, a ghost rattling chains. But we got nothing.” Author said lowering his eyes in sadness. “Nothing.”

“Oh...” Trent said and went over to Author's chair and untied his head from the headrest so he could look around at least.

Author gave a half grin and said, “That's why Rasa and I started making models full time. It was a kind of way of remembering our dad." Author looked over to the pedestal model of the house and smiled mournfully at it.

 

The brothers continued to invent and work but were opposed to letting their technology get into the hands of the government because the last time the government was involved, their father disappeared. Because the Tubris brothers were not on the base at the time, they could not be sure that the military didn't simply kill their father and try to steal the technology that he brought with him. Nothing could be proven, and so the brothers kept their work away from the military.

They did not want any machine or idea of theirs to be used for anything dealing with the government. It would be so easy to sell it to them, become rich beyond dreams, but in doing so they felt like they would be disgracing their father's memory.

Rasa especially hated the military for what happened that day his father 'disappeared'. There was no official report that Mr. Tubris was even summoned. There was no death record either. The family only found out about the disappearance from a soldier that made it his mission to let them know what happened. Even so, from that testimony, Rasa and Arthur did not believe that their dad simply vanished. The math did not add up. They wanted to find out what could have happened that day and so they went about perfecting the technology that their dad had invented. At the same time, subconsciously, they knew if they didn't make this personal, it was too tempting to sell it or forget about it when things became difficult to handle.

So they decided to make a model as the base for all of their experiments and technology, with nothing but the highest respects for their father's memory. Adapting his different field's around that model.

Their mother suddenly became very ill from a bad case of salmonella poisoning the year after their father's death and died. The sadness of loosing both parents, so close to each other changed them. They rarely found happiness when doing activities outside of the house, never wanting to leave it for too long those early years of mourning. Later on, they stayed at the estate out of habit.

Ever since their parents death, it was Arthur's instinct to watch out for his younger brother Rasa, becoming a kind of father figure to him. Rasa insisted he didn't need another father and resented the fact that Arthur needed to take over that position. Rasa was old enough to take care of himself. However, because it was just the two of them left in the family, they gravitated to each other and remained in the house that their family was last whole in.

Their estate house was built only 3 years before their father died. Paid for by their dad's hard work in designing, building and selling specialized planes for the ridiculously rich and famous. They had previously inherited some money from a distant relative, and it helped get the family into the big sciences. With more money came better technology, most of which, was improved by the brothers so they would not have to buy new all the time. It was an all consuming fixation and passion. Needless to say, they did not get out into the social scene much. After their dad disappeared, science became their life and obsession.

 

Author looked up to Trent. "He always told us to keep going for the next big invention that will 'wow the world'. Rasa was never satisfied with having this complex model, he wanted something he could use to win a Nobel prize with. He had the big idea of using the Faks to create it for him. He insisted that since we created the Faks, that anything they make will be ours by right.” Author looked guiltily at Trent and Shauna. “We knew that they needed actual human contact in order to evolve. That’s why we kidnapped all of you.”

Trent became quietly pissed beyond words.

Author kept his voice calm and rational, “Hear me out, you all came to our house uninvited. We did not go out and pluck you guys from your homes and jobs. Nearly all of you came here to take something from us in one way or another. If you had worked this hard to for all of this stuff, wouldn’t you do just about anything to protect it from thieves?” Author said in a calm collected way to disarm Trent. He didn't want to set him off on another tirade.

“Tell that to Hubb, the door to door salesman.” Trent said looking down on him.

“Yeah, but in the end he received way more then what he would have if he had just made one sale to us. He became a good friend of mine in there.” Author said gazing at the model, then back to Trent. “I’m not saying what Rasa and I did was right, it was just the easiest way for us to stay private. We never killed anyone and we actually gave you all a pretty comfortable life in there. All the food you could eat, no jobs if you didn’t want to work, free... well, everything. It's not like we tortured everyone incessantly. Shit, in the early days, Ras and I would sometimes fight over who gets to stay in the model and who had to stay out. We couldn’t both be in there at the same time very often, and never with the field turned on in those cases. Someone had to make sure that our estate and home remained safe and secure.”

“So why, when we came back here, was there a sky scraper smashed against the wall? If you guys loved the model so much, why destroy part of it?”

"It's a long story.”

Trent eyed him suspiciously. “You mean it's a long story dealing with Rasa. You always give that look when you think of him.”

“I do not.” Author retorted.

“Ha, yup, there it is. You are worried about him. He’s not in this house at all.” Trent stood up. “Let's get down to brass tacks here. You do not need Rasa to fix the machine in order to enlarge diamonds.”

Author looked him in the eyes, he had figured it out that he was stalling. He wondered what else he could do to keep everyone occupied, seeing as how they were adamant about staying here for the big money. He had an epiphany. “No, I can make the diamonds bigger for you today." Author said. “But not with this machine. You remember all the cars and trucks in the model? We didn’t build those from scratch like the buildings, we just shrank them.”

Trent and Shauna just looked at each other. They didn’t even think about the fact that the miniaturization tube that shrunk them couldn’t possibly shrink a car or truck.

“Remember the horse and cow? They are too big for this one as well, I had to reprogram the other one in the garage to do biological things instead of simpler inanimate objects. I will have to change the parameters back from bio to mineral.” Author said wiggling his tied up hands attached to the arms of his chair. “But I need these.”

Trent picked up his handgun from the desk and aimed it square in Author's chest. For a second Author was scared but then let go of his fears. Author waited for him to shoot. He was getting tired of the cat and mouse game and wanted him to just get it over with. He trusted those old guys at the diner to do what was right by Rasa, and bring him back to the house later on. Preferably when Trent and his lackeys were long gone with whatever valuables they could carry. All of the machines were built into the walls and too big to fit out of the doorway in one piece. There were no manuals laying around on how to put it back together if they did break them apart. One of the brothers would have to rebuild it again off site.

One way of insuring that they'd leave, is if they had already gotten revenge on at least one of the brothers. Author remembered that his neighbors would be over in about four to five hours to drop off their big guard dogs overnight. The threat of being caught red handed would hopefully make Trent and the rest leave. Author figured that so long as Rasa remained calm, he'd have more then enough time left before the green stuff would wear off. Then he could come back when no one was here. Either way, Author wanted Trent to do something soon because the waiting was getting to him. He was sick and tired of being held hostage.

"Shoot me." He said staring at Trent who raised the gun to his neck.

"Not yet." Trent gave a signal to Shauna.

Shauna went over and untied Author from the chair and got him to his feet. He swayed and felt very lightheaded and fell back into the chair again.

"Whoa, buggar me...." He said holding his head in his hands. The others could tell that he wasn't faking this headache. It was mostly due to the realization that he just asked to die but was shown unexpected mercy instead. His subconscious told him to watch what he said and did from here on out. There was a way to solve this problem, but there is no cure for death.

"I'm ok, I'm ok... just need some food and some pain meds in me. Broke my arm a week ago. Still hurts like hell." He rubbed the bandage, got up and went to the sink to drink out of the faucet. Wiping off his mouth he said, "Diamonds are easy, they are just hardened carbon so once I get the machine ready, it will be a cinch to make them monster truck size. The hard part is finding a big enough diamond to start with. You guys go find the biggest diamond with as many facets as possible, and I will make all your dreams come true.” Author said rummaging through the pill box for the Vicodin.

“Don't you have big ones here?”

Author took a pill and washed it down with water from the hand sink. “They used to be very very small, almost chips of diamonds. If I make those chips super sized they wouldn't look right. They'd look like glass and wouldn't let light through as beautifully. Ras and I studied gemology for a while, and basically the bigger the original, the better. So get to it. You can leave Dominic or William in here to watch me if you want.” Author said searching for his soldering tools under the desk.

Shauna gave Author a dubious look. Then addressed Trent, “What’s to stop William from making Author give him all of their family jewels before the machine is fixed. While we are out on some diamond heist? This bag of trinkets can't be all of it." She looked over to the machine. "Only he knows how to make that thing work.”

Author gave a sly grin while still rummaging loudly under the desk.

"And I don't think he is telling. I can’t say I'd call him a fool for not teaching us how it works." Shauna said looking at Author.

“You don't trust the others?” Trent asked her.

“No, I'm not saying that, but money has a way of changing allegiances.”

“So what do you suggest? That  _you_ stay here with Author?”

“Maybe.” She said gazing at the machine.

“And ‘maybe’ you will get the jewels instead of them. Is that right?”

“Bunny, Babe, I would never cheat you.” Shauna said rubbing her whole body against his, gently kissing his chest.

The hairs stood on Trent’s neck, whenever a woman did that to him, they always were trying to con him out of something. He held onto her wrists firmly and stared her down. “Stop that.”

“Stop what? I thought you loved me?” She said pouting.

“I do love you, but I don’t trust you with him. You will take William and Dominic to find us the biggest diamond possible.”

“What’s the holdup?” Dominic said, entering the lab and finding Author under the desk. “Why did you let that bastard loose?” He shot an accusing finger at Trent. Anger welled inside him as he saw Author grinning. He could tell that Author was just playing with them and already had a plan to get rid of them. He shouted, "What the hell are you thinking?! I came here with you guys for one thing, not to make deals with this devil!" Dominic brought his shotgun around in front of him.

“Shut up, you’re not in charge, I am!” Trent said furiously throwing Shauna to one side.

“We should just stick to the plan! Kill them both!  _Die you bastard_ !” Dominic shouted and aimed his shotgun at Author's head.

Trent immediately aimed his handgun at Dominic.

The deafening blast echoed in the room as Dominic fell backwards to the ground.

Author fell back too, but it was from shock. He hit his back against the rear desk leg and Shauna screamed. A few tense moments passed as Dominic's body settled onto the floor. His blood seeped from the hole in his chest and pooled on the ground all around him, finding its way to the drain in the middle of the floor. They stared in shock at it until they heard someone running down the stairs.

“What the hell happened?!” William shouted. He ran to the fallen Dominic and checked him for signs of life. “Why did you shoot him Trent?!” He jabbed an outraged finger at Author. “He was the one that was supposed to die!”

Trent grit his teeth and cocked his gun again and aimed it at William's head before he could raise his gun.

“The plan has changed.” Trent said coldly.

A long time passed before anything else was said. No one moved.

“Shauna.” Trent said without lowering his gun or looking at her. “Tell Mr. William what the new plan is.”

She was trembling and frightened but did as she was told. “You and I are going to find a large diamond for Author to make bigger for us. Trent is going to watch him.” Her voice quavered and a tear ran down her cheek. She never saw anyone die in front of her before. Always fleeing the scene before they fell.

“Author. Get to work. Now.” Trent said and looked to Shauna and William next. “Go get me that diamond, and do not get caught.”

William and Shauna looked expectantly at Author and waited to hear the time limit they had. Each fingered the trigger to their guns as they trembled with a mix of hatred to Author and Trent and grief for their partner who now laid dead. If Shauna and William wanted to keep going forward with all this, they needed to know how much time they had left.

Author just whispered, “I don’t know how long it will take...”

Trent looked at Author and lowered his gun. He knelt down beside him under the desk and said, “How long.”

“4 hours... maybe 5...” He suggested. “But then I would have to test it and make modifications to the operating systems... it might take up to 8 hours.”

Trent put a firm hand on Author's shoulder and stood back up. “You both have 5 hours to get your asses back here with that diamond.”

Shauna and William left in double time, picking up more ammunition from the bags they brought in with them. Once outside of the house they started talking.

“He just shot him. Dominic.” William said walking along the multicolored stony path to their utility van. “We were friends back in the model. Got to know each other really well. He lost his family when his clone copy died. They moved away but never left a forwarding address. They just vanished. He and I were going to roommate together long enough to find them again. We were going to use the money from selling the stuff from Author's house to hire a detective to find them.” William said letting a few tears fall. “But now, he really is dead. He will never see his family again.”

Shauna got into the driver's seat and quietly sat there for a moment.

The sun was setting and the light cast long shadows over everything. The sky turned a bright red and a breeze blew by the van.

“Trent didn’t mean to kill him... he had trouble with depth perception.” Shauna said staring blankly ahead. “He was aiming for the door behind him but it was actually over a few inches. He just meant to scare Dominic...”

“So why didn’t he react differently when Dom fell?”

Shauna started to cry without a sound. “It was an accident.” She said and started down the street for town. "It had to be an accident..."

 

 

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

C hapter Eleven:  Limited Time Offer

 

 

 

“ Y ou got him?”

“Yup, snug as a bug.” Arlene said pushing her breasts together some more.

"Watch it, I'm getting a little jealous over here." Steven said to his wife. "We can't stop for a quick amore detour."

“So where are we going?” Arlene asked.

“Don’t know yet." Steven said tapping the steering wheel.

“He is kind of cute there Honey.” Arlene said looking down at little Rasa.

“Yeah, I know you have a thing for older men but this one is off limits.” Steven said laughing. "Kelly would probably fight you for him."

Rasa was getting very uneasy about their complete lack of preparedness for the mission ahead. “Umm, my house is on Northwood and Wyandotte...” Rasa shouted. The two seemed to hear, but not care what he just said. “Where are we now?” He shouted up to the woman.

“You’re with me!” She said amiably.

"Don't worry about that Rasa, we're just leaving the retirement village the old man lives in. So tell me, how did you get to be that small? What happened?"

"Well, my brother and I invented this machine that shrinks and enlarges things to whatever size we want, usually to this scale. About 1 inch equals 5 feet. We built a big ass model of two cities and populated it with about a thousand little robots that look like people. They think they are people too. It was kind of a hobby I guess."

"A hobby? What kind of hobby is that! That sounds like some super mad scientist thing!"

"We aren't  _crazy_ , we just needed a challenge. While most kids were playing arcade games, we were building nearly self sustaining loops of plasmatic light around our living room. With our dad's guidance of course." Rasa said, "We had a Jacobs ladder for a nightlight, and my brother built a Theremin to play in school. He was damned good at it too." Rasa laughed. "Those were the days..."

"So you are pretty smart then. Geniuses?" Steven asked.

"Well, yeah, I guess you could say that. Dad never let us take an IQ test. Saying that he didn't want anyone to find out how smart we really were. That we would get 'big heads' from knowing it as a fact. Truth is, I don't see myself as being all that clever, Arthur is though. He eventually fixed what Dad couldn't. I just helped with the details and diagrams. He had the imagination and that is more important then crunching numbers." Rasa said. He noticed that the setting sun was hitting Arlene square in her smiling face and for at least twenty minutes, they had been heading south westerly and not due north.

"What street are we now on?” Rasa asked with growing anxiety.

“Lindel.” She said, her smile gradually faded and stared emotionlessly out of the windshield.

“But that’s nowhere near... if you go north...”

“We aren’t going to your house.” Steven said swiftly.

Rasa’s chest felt tight. He coughed for a minute and had to sit down holding his arms. He suddenly felt very cold. “Why not?” He asked reluctantly.

“Like you said, it's dangerous there. I don’t want to get anyone in harms way.” Steven said tersely.

“But...” Rasa coughed again and started to get dizzy. “I don’t think you understand... I’m gonna die if I don’t get back home... my brother is going to die too if we don’t save him!” Rasa shouted. Arlene shifted uneasily in her seat and he fell to one side and had to lean up against the wall of the bottle. “If you’re not going to help me then let me go!” He shouted up towards her.

“Let you go? You are way to valuable to throw away in the gutter.”

“Valuable.” Rasa said with a fallen heart. He sat down heavily and looked absent mindedly at his feet for awhile. That word echoing in his head.

‘Valuable.’

They were planning to sell him.

The truck drove on and on for a long time.

Rasa had nightmares about this very thing the first night he spent alone in the model. That he was going to be sold like some interesting doll or pet. An oddity that will never be seen as a real living human being. But he knew he wouldn't live through the night this time. A nightmare made real and unfortunately he could do nothing about it.

“Oh, just got a text message from Dad.” She opened it up and read it out loud. “He wants to know if everything is ok.”

“Tell him it all went well, Rasa is safe at home and his brother is just fine.” Steven said.

“Ok.” She said hitting the letter keys on her phone.

“But I’m not!” Rasa shouted angrily. “You realize you not only killed me but you just murdered my brother!”

“I did not and he is none of my business. If he got into trouble he probably deserved it.” Steven said making a turn with the truck. He was heading to the nearest big city with a better variety of expensive stores that could offer a larger price for the little man. Their own town had limited places that could offer more then a thousand bucks. Rasa was worth more then that.

“So Arlene, how much do you think we can get for him? Pay for the kids college fund?”

She pulled out the bottle from her bra and shook it, making Rasa fall forcefully to one side. She then angled the bottle the other way to see him more clearly under the dome light of the truck. She huffed, slammed the bottle down in her lap and brought out her cell phone to use as a flashlight as the red dusk was fading fast.

It nearly blinded him after being in the dark for so long so he covered his face with his arm.

"It's hard to tell. He certainly wouldn’t be worth much dead... he still looks healthy enough. I bet he was lying about dying, otherwise he would have said something to Tom and Daddy.” She said closing her phone again with one hand and holding his bottle in the other.

Rasa groaned with the new bruises and sprains that her jostle inflicted. He hugged himself and sat still where he landed. His mind raced with heartache and grief. “Arthur.. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry.” Rasa said quietly, weeping into his hands.

Arlene heard him, but refused to look. She ignored her motherly instincts to cuddle this hurt little thing. Instead, she thought of her own little ones, and how much good the money would do the family. Trying to convince herself that this decisive action was justified.

“You're right Steven, if these guys are in trouble it's their own damned fault. Asking two elderly men to go into the line of fire for them? How selfish and inconsiderate can you get?” She said and looked down. Rasa was lying on his side covering up his head in his arms.

“So where were you thinking of selling him? It has to be soon, I'm not sure if he  _will_ live all that much longer.” She said angling the bottle around again. Rasa seemed to be loosing strength along with hope. She carefully wedged his bottle back into her bra and kept tabs on how he was doing.

Steven plugged in his simple but expensive GPS navigator on the dashboard and angled it upwards. He then tapped in directions to the nearest medical centers he could think of. Different hospitals, doctors offices, and some research facilities. He even thought of trying to sell him to a magician or some kind of performance arts institution.

Arlene just gave him an annoyed look and pulled out the phone book from under her seat that they use for the local maps and addresses not programmed into the GPS navigator. She flipped pages and read the names of different facilities that might be interested, with substantial money available.

“Oh try this one, Biminy Laboratories.” Arlene said hitting the buttons for directions into the device.

‘Turn right ahead.’ The electronic voice said.

"Even if they don't know what to do with him, they can get us in touch with someone that does." She said.

"Well, we have another half hour till we get there. Make sure he doesn't die on us till we get cash in hand." He said.

 

 

"So where the hell are we supposed to find a big ass diamond in just a couple of hours?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not from here originally. I was brought in with my old partners for the 'Tubris brothers' job that got me miniaturized and thrown into a model." Shauna said turning towards the big city lights.

"Where is the nearest jewelry store?" William asked gazing out of the window, scanning for the stores that looked promising.

"Don't even bother, we would be caught right away. Gotta think of somewhere easier to steal from."

"What about some rich old person's house?"

"How could we know what they have first? They might just have a big house but nothing worth anything inside." Shauna said. The two drove on for awhile. Trying to think of ideal hit spots. Coming to the conclusion that if it really were that easy to steal big diamonds, someone would have done it already.

"I have an idea, tell me if it sucks."

"What is it?"

"Ok, so like, let's say you have some piece of jewelry that needs maintenance done on it. Like a nice necklace with lots of little pieces that need attention. Or wedding rings and stuff that need resizing. Where do they take those?" William asked.

"To someone that does metal work. Where are the modern day blacksmiths?" Shauna cocked her head.

"No, you're thinking way too far in the past. There is new technology out there for resizing. I was reading about it in the paper, they have a computer that is able to calculate the best possible way to re-cut a diamond so that it shines brighter. We just have to find out where that computer is, then get the information from it for all of its previous clients. Then it's a simple matter of going to the clients home and stealing it."

"Or maybe they are working on resizing or cutting a new diamond at that store, before they return it to the client." Shauna said and considered other alternatives, but William's idea was better then what she had in mind. "Sounds like a plan. Gotta find out where they do that first."

William said. "Easy peasy." William pulled out a laptop from behind his seat and while Shauna drove, he did a search for local jewelers and sent a request to have his rough cut diamond shaped into a heart. Out of three local jewelers, one sent a reply back with the location on where to have it reshaped along with an estimate for the work. William laughed at how easy it was and gave the directions to Shauna on where to go. He then called up Trent and updated him on the search for the 'big ass diamond'.

 

 

Trent smiled and hung up his phone. He then punched Author happily in the shoulder as he tried to rewire the miniaturization machine in the garage. "Once they get it here, all you gotta do is make it just big enough for a decent payoff. Don't make it too big though." Trent said.

"What's too big?" Author asked. He tensed up when he thought of Trent wanting a more normal and natural sized diamond. In order for the gem to loose molecular stability, it had to be grossly oversized.

"I think about the size of a basketball aught to do it. We can then take a big hammer and chip off pieces to have shaped and sold. You know, so we don't get unwanted attention. Use aliases when we sell them so there's no paper trail."

Author cursed in his head, Trent figured out what the brothers were already doing in a way. Keeping the operation small and manageable. If the big diamond did not explode, he had hoped that the thieves would be caught trying to sell a diamond too big to be found in nature. Labeled as a hoax, thrown into the news spotlight, ogled by every person on the planet for its size. But if they chip it up, there was almost no risk to it. Author had to give Trent some credit for thinking about his actions and plans.

"Don't worry, there wont be a paper trail to you either. I will make sure of that. If you get caught or go under the reporters eye, we will come and bail you out from that situation. Don't want to let our prize pig be slaughtered!" Trent said jovially.

Author hung his head. Once Trent had what he wanted, there was no guarantee that his own life or Rasa's would be spared. If not from Trent's gun, someone else's. He picked up the wrench and kept working on a part of the machine that was already fixed. He took the machine apart and put it back together twice already since Trent had been breathing down his neck. Making sure to 'showcase' some different aspect of the machine when inspecting it for problems he knew, did not exist. He even turned it upside down and worked on it backwards to make it seem like a different machine altogether.

Author thought to himself as he worked on the molecular modifier section, 'Would a basketball sized diamond be big enough to change from a solid to gas and cause an explosion? Damn, Rasa was the one that studied up on that theory of instability. He said it was so much safer to remove the spare atoms and quarks then to add to the space between them to make the things expand in size. If there weren't enough base materials to fill in the larger-then-natural object, then it would explode. There was only so far an object's atoms could be stretched and pulled before they separate and blow apart from each other like a balloon bursting from too much air.’ Author thought as he unscrewed the attachment connecting the machine to the garage's ceiling.

With Trent's help, he brought the whole heavy machine completely down to the ground. It helped that it was built as two main components that were connected by a bundle of wires and cables. One fired the waves to the object, capturing the molecules and sent the data to the larger part of the machine that comprised the working space of nearly one whole wall of the immense garage. Now that the wave firing part of the machine was easier to reach and dig into, he could move it around better and work on it. He got to know it inside and out even better then he had years before, when he and Rasa first built it. This miniaturization machine wasn't the first one to be built, but it was the first one to be reliable enough to use more then once. The one in the house was the 5th generation, and was basically considered the sports car of their machines. The first prototypes were torn apart for parts with every generation. Remnants of the first three were stored in the garage, in various boxes and on shelves. Each time the machines became smaller, more complicated but also more reliable.

Trent soon became bored with watching nuts and bolts being taken off and reattached, wires cut and rewired, as well as programming chips being inspected for a long time. Trent wandered around the garage and found one of Rasa's hidden stash of 'Playboys', thankfully taking his unwavering attention away from Author for a bit.

Author took off all of the unnecessary metal from the wave machine, making it lighter and easier to move around by himself. He reached a pair of pliers and worked on the underside cybernetic board. All the while his mind worked out the problem at hand as he worked with the one in front of him. Trying to think about how the machine works in the most basic ways. Going back to the drawing board.

‘Some objects can be compressed into themselves almost infinitely. This machine stores the missing matter as energy in here.’ Author thought to himself as he walked over to the more intricately built part of the machine on the wall. He fiddled with a complicated blue box that was 'bigger on the inside.' Storing billions times billions of terabytes of information on each and every one of the larger things they currently had shrunk with it.

Author daydreamed about making all of that matter in energy form expand to its original size while the physical representation of that thing was still in the model. Such as Rasa's two inch long jeep, currently sitting in front of the Control house in the model, it is only a small fraction of physical manifestation of the original jeep. All of the other extra stuff compiling the jeeps unnecessary atoms, as stored energy, was being held inside the blue box. If they wanted the jeep back to normal size, they just needed the small version of it placed in front of the waves emitted by this machine and the rest of the energy information matter would rejoin it to form the original jeep in its original size.

Until then, the jeep matter in energy form laid dormant inside the box, waiting to return to its physical form. The living biological beings that were shrunk were similarly miniaturized, but it was a much more complicated process, the things didn't only have to be small, they had to still function and live.

Author thought about the animals he had shrunk using this machine. The miniaturization tube inside the house was way too small to fit inside of it a horse or cow so he took them first to the garage. Reprogrammed that machine to do living organisms and then shrunk them in there.

If Author managed to make the blue box release all of the matter and energy stored inside at the same time, that would mean that the animals would remain miniature forever. Right along with everything else in the model that was shrunk using this machine because the rest of their original matter would be plastered all over the yard from the explosion.

Author grimaced at the thought of animal parts mixed in with machinery hanging from their backyard greenery. That's assuming it didn't catch fire at some point in the explosion out of the blue box.

The miniaturization machine in the lab was still storing the energy information for all of the smaller items that were still inside the model. Things like cloths, houseplants, electronic devices such as laptops and the drinking water for all of the real people. But most important of all was Rasa. Rasa was not shrunk using the machine in the garage and therefore, his spare matter in the form of energy would not explode along with the rest of the stuff.

Author wondered if there was still some connection from the matter stored in the machine, and the real thing that was elsewhere. 'If both could only exist or not exist together. Like say, the horse's stored energy in the machine was still connected to the small version of itself currently living in the bio-dome. If the extra matter was destroyed would the miniature horse be destroyed as well? If the machines were connected to each other in some way when we first built them, would that effect every single thing that had yet to be returned to normal? Would Rasa explode?... Unlikely ... ' He hoped.

"Unless." Author said out loud, he caught himself and made it look like he was just yawning.

Trent ignored him, holding the magazine on its end to let out the folded picture inside, smiling suggestively at the beautiful naked lady in the picture.

'Rasa shouldn’t explode unless he is in the path of destruction when it all blows sky high.' Author thought. 'He better not try to use this machine. How do I leave him a note to only use the machine in the basement?' Author thought as he took pen and paper to do some diagrammatic doodles that he knew Trent would not understand.

'Rasa you better see the message in this.' Author thought as he put a code into the doodles that only a super scientist would understand.

 

 


	12. Little Man - Half Off

C hapter Twelve:  Little man, Half off

 

 

 

" W hat I don't get about this Rasa guy and his brother is that they're supposed to be some kind of super scientists right?" Steven said to his wife.

"They must be, if they can make people change sizes like this. That's got to be hard to do right?"

"Yeah, so why is he so awkward around people?"

"Well, he is probably worried he's gonna get squashed all the time." Arlene said.

"No, I don't mean that, I mean. When we were at the table and all talking with him, and from what I got from the old guys, is that he seems to be socially retarded. Rasa may be a super scientist but I think its obvious he doesn't know how to act around people."

Arlene thought about that for a short while. "Yeah, I can see what you mean. He was pretty odd. I noticed that when you had your head down to be more eye to eye, he took an immediate interest in talking to you instead of the rest of us. It was like he completely forgot we were all there for a moment."

"Of course you are right too, being scared for your life all the time has got to be pretty tiring on a person. I mean, he was probably in danger of being squished or burned or to go deaf from things that are nothing to us. Because he is so small, every damned thing is an obstacle." Steven said looking down at her chest to where the pill bottle was snugly fit. "Like, if it weren't for that plastic bottle holding back your lovely boobs, he might even break a leg or rib from the force, or pressure, if he was just there alone. That's got to suck."

"Try not to think about it Dear." Arlene said pointing to the street ahead. "You still have to watch the road otherwise we all might break something!"

"If it were me there in-between your perfect breasts, I think it would be an amazing way to go!" He said gently caressing her left tit in his fingers.

"The road Dear. You can grope me and a wad of cash in just a few minutes. Focus." She said sweetly kissing his hand.

The electronic voice on the GPS indicated their final destination down the street. They arrived and parked out back of the very large building.

"Looks like a clinic more then a research facility. Are we sure they are going to have cash on hand?"

"Wont know until we get in there." Steven said. "Pull him out of your bra, we have to look presentable and worth the money."

Steven took the bottle from his wife and held onto the top in his fingertips, right side up. Then stuck that hand with the bottle in his jacket pocket to keep it out of view and safe should it be accidentally dropped. They both straightened out there outfits and were buzzed in through the side door to Biminy Laboratories.

"Hi, my name is Steven and this is my wife Arlene."

"Hi, hello. My name is Dr. Arakawa. I'm chief of our biological research and development." She said shaking their hands. She was about mid thirties, with long dark brown hair that waved a little towards the ends. She wore a warm smile that made you feel welcomed but at the moment it was only to be polite. It had been a long work day. "So what can we do for you two tonight? We don't usually see new clients this late. Our regular hours are between 8 and 7pm. It’s now..... 7:30..." She said looking towards the clock over the door, trying to be polite but not a pushover.

"Sorry it's so late, but I guarantee you that this is worth your time." Steven said with his salesman smile.

"Well, come on in, let's see what you got." She said and led them to a large room with a white table in the middle. She figured that whatever they had was pretty small since they brought it in with them on their persons. "Ok then..." She felt around underneath for a lever for the rimmed table top and raised it up to four feet above ground. Then brought over an examining lamp.

"Oh umm, does that thing get hot?" Steven asked about the lamp.

"No, it's cold light, florescent, it's not like a heat lamp. So the thing is sensitive to heat?"

"And sound, and pressure I would imagine." Steven looked to Arlene who nodded in confirmation.

"And most everything really, you have to be  _super gentle_ with it." She emphasized the soft touch needed in handling.

"Super gentle..." Dr. Arakawa said quietly and brought out a thin pad of fleece covered foam and put it on top of the tabletop. Most likely used for expensive and delicate things like computer chips.

Steven pulled out the pill bottle from his jacket pocket where it was being held, and set it down in the middle of the foam. He then peeked inside of it to make sure the contents were still there. He gave an excited smile at the doctor and tipped the bottle on its side. But nothing came out.

"Hang on..." He said and tipped it nearly up side down until a small dark colored lump fell out of it followed immediately by a wrinkled tissue.

"What is that?" Ms. Arakawa asked pulling out a pair of tweezers from the drawer under the table. She peeled away the tissue and gasped at what she saw.

"How did you make such a cute little doll?"

"Oh uh, he's not a doll. He is a man. A little shrunken man." Steven said.

Arlene poked her finger at the figure and nudged it so it was laying on its back now.

The figure woke up and cringed at the light and immediately covered up his eyes with both arms. He then flipped around to his knees and tucked his head in underneath himself with both hands over the back of his head. Crouching down, he whined as his whole body was glowing red and he could actually see the darker areas of his own skeleton. The light was not hot but it was shining almost right through him and that was very upsetting.

"I guess the light is too much for him." Arlene said and moved the lamp away from the table top.

The doctor put her hands to her mouth and backed up away from the table slowly until she ran into the wall. "What the hell is that?" She whispered.

"We told you, he's a little man." Steven said reaching a hand out to the doctor to bring her closer. Arlene was busy poking Rasa with her fingertips so he would stand up and face the doctor when she got over.

"Stop pushing me damn it!" He shouted and sat down on the pad.

"Did it just say something?" She said moving very slowly and cautiously to the table.

"Yeah, he can talk loud enough for us to hear him, but you have to speak quietly for him. It hurts his ears if the noises are too loud." Arlene said standing behind the table. She then looked to her husband and made a motion with her fingers to ask about money.

"Oh right, so umm, how much is this guy worth to you." Steven said bluntly.

"What my husband is trying to say... is that we think that, for the right price, you can purchase this little miracle from us." Arlene said trying to entice the doctor.

"Limited time offer kind of thing." Steven said leaning in.

"We think he would be perfect for your business. He would be great to use for whatever you do here." Arlene shrugged then held out her hands as if he was on display. "For the right price we are willing to sell."

"What?" The doctor was baffled by them. First they show up with an impossibly little human, and in the next instant they want to just sell him.

"Hang on, lemme get the boys. Don't move!" Dr. Arakawa said to them and left down the hallway at double speed.

"Do you think she's gonna call the cops on us?" Arlene whispered to Steven as soon as the doctor was out of the room.

"No, did you see the look in her eyes? She wants him bad. She didn‘t even ask where we got him. We‘ll just say you inherited him from your dad. But I don’t think she’ll ask.. she just wants to buy as soon as possible." Steven said hugging his wife. "Jackpot."

Rasa just sat there. He pulled out some of the cookie crumbs from his jeans pocket and munched on them to take his mind off of the overhead events and surroundings.

In seconds, Arakawa was back with two fairly skinny men who had on lab coats with gloves. Apparently they were right in the middle of something. They introduced themselves as Dr. Nightow and Dr. Adams. She ushered them quickly over to the table and they both leaned in and had the same reactions that Arakawa had.

"Mr. Biminy needs to see this. But he said never to bother him at home." Dr. Nightow said staring at the figure.

"I think this time might be more important then status updates, Nightow." Arakawa said to him.

"I can't speak for the old man but if I had the money, I would pay millions." Adams said picking up the tweezers from the table.

Arakawa held onto his hand stopping him. "He is very fragile. That means do not touch." She warned. "He’s not a toy. You break it you buy it."

Steven looked expectantly at the three doctors. He didn't want to wait till normal business hours to speak to this Mr. Biminy guy. Especially if Rasa dies in the middle of the night.

Rasa studied intently the crumbs he was eating. Refusing to engage any interest in the conversation. Then picked at his teeth with a finger and spat out a hard grain of sugar. He then scratched himself and belched, trying to give every impression that he was not worth a lot of money. Only a few times he risked looking upwards to the five enormous giants all around him that were staring him down.

He started to cough fitfully and waved for the people to go away. "Piss off!" He shouted angrily and sighed when they just oohed and awwed at his vocal talents. "Son of a bitch." He muttered.

Adams immediately got on the phone with their boss and appeared to be haggling cost with him on how much to spend on this 'little person'. The phone was in the other room so all they heard were snippets of the conversation.

"No I mean, this is for real. You have to get down here tonight." Adams said. Then nodded to himself as he was being yelled at over the phone. He said a bunch of ‘yes sirs’ and then eventually hung up. "Mr. Biminy says he will not go a penny over 500,000 dollars tonight." Adams said almost disappointed. He thought that price was way too low for this discovery.

"Deal!" Steven practically shouted. He hugged his wife and kissed her all over.

"Really?" Adams said warily. He didn't even get to tell them that the offer could be double if they had brought the man back in in the morning for Mr. Biminy to view personally.

"Yes! Really! Where do I sign?" Steven said eagerly. Arlene could barely contain her happiness as well and so Adams led them down the hall to wire money to their bank account. The digital transaction was infinitely faster then waiting for the banks to open. But of course they would have to wait till morning to access the funds and finish the transfer once the banks opened.

Meanwhile, Arakawa and Nightow hovered their faces within a foot of poor Rasa.

"So I guess you guys  _own_ me now, huh." Rasa said glumly.

"It's so odd how it can converse like a regular person, don't you think Arakawa? It understands what's going on." Nightow said.

Dr. Arakawa frowned at Nightow and then looked on Rasa, beginning to see him as more then a sample. He seemed more real.

Rasa threw the bit of cookie away in front of him and cleaned his hands off on the fleece pad he sat on. "Better get your moneys worth now because in a few hours, I'm dead." He said to the puzzled faces overhead. He didn't have to look up to tell what they were doing.

"What are you talking about? Are you injured?" Nightow asked rummaging through a desk drawer for a spare magnifying glass.

"No, well not life threateningly. But I will die tonight." Rasa said almost placidly.

"Die of what? We’re not going to hurt you." Arakawa said gently.

"Everyone always says that, but they all do. Intentional or not.” He said depressingly. “I know you can't help me either. The air you are breathing right now is just too big for my lungs to handle after awhile. I can already feel its effects." Rasa said holding his chest and feeling the rattle in his lungs growing more phlegmy. "Yup, I'll seize up, go into convulsions then die. I watched it happen before to my older brother when he was still miniature. But at that time I was able to put him in our bio-dome before he died so he is alive but, he has other problems now. Mine are more certain. He might even have a chance to survive this night but I certainly don’t." Rasa said, surprising even himself at how far he had gotten in the five stages of death. Already at acceptance.

Then he thought of Arthur.

He looked up to the two technicians who were genuinely worried about him and his condition. Rasa's immediate first reactions to seeing them was 'D&D nerds'. He shook his head and stood up, wobbling slightly on the plush surface. It was like standing on the softest of down pillows, and he quite liked it as a change of pace in surfaces.

"Maybe you guys can help me out, those two assholes refused to." Rasa shouted upwards. "They kidnapped me and sold me to you guys first chance they got. Even though I was never theirs to sell."

"What? Where are you from?" Arakawa asked obviously concerned about him. She had brought over a tall padded stool to sit on at the table so she wouldn’t hover over him. Nightow did the same after seeing how it was easier for the little man to talk to them when they were closer to his level. He also set the magnifying glass back inside the drawer. Rasa smiled at the two as they leaned forward now to listen and not ogle.

"I live with my brother near the corner of Northwood and Wyandotte. I don't know how far that is from here. Where am I anyways?"

"Biminy Laboratories, in Cedar City Utah."

"Oh ok, that's pretty far from my house but whatever...I kind of thought so. Biminy Laboratories..." he said to himself. "You have like high tech equipment then right? For R & D? What is it that you do here?"

They looked at each other and then him. They heard an office door open and Steven and Arlene left without even looking back. The couple just kept hugging and kissing each other all the way to their truck waving a thick envelope in the air like a well earned trophy. The tech's and Rasa could hear the truck peel out of the parking lot as if the tech's were going to change their minds and chase them down.

"Good riddance." Rasa said giving the finger to the outer door. These lab tech geeks were more Rasa's people anyway. "Listen, you don't have to tell me your trade secrets, I really don't care. What I want to offer you is all of mine. In exchange for what I know and have back at the house, I want you guys to help me save my older brother's life." Rasa said.

"He is in trouble? Where is he?" Adams asked walking over. Nightow and Arakawa got him up to speed as he joined the conversation.

"Oh, is he as small as you are now?" Nightow asked referring to Rasa's size.

"No, he's normal sized again, and, as far as I know he is at our house, being held captive by... some dangerous guys that hate us." Rasa said, leaving out the part  _why_ they hated them. "We have the machine that shrank me in my basement, if you help me get back to normal then I can save my brother, and give you everything we have been working on for the past thirty years. Trust me, no matter what you are working on here, it doesn't compare to what's in our house." Rasa shouted up to them. He found he still had to sit down to talk to these people. It hurt his neck to angle it so drastically for any length of time, as it brought on another coughing fit and he had a tough time keeping it under control. Small splatterings of green stuff were mixed in with the coughed up phlegm. He frowned at it and wiped his hands off on the pad he sat on.

The others went into a huddle away from the table and tried to speak quietly for Rasa not to hear. He could anyways, it was hard not to pick up the sound vibrations from these huge giants. He then thought it funny that they wanted to keep things from him. What was he gonna do with the information? He couldn't do much without their permission and help. It was like keeping secrets from a mouse in a cage.

They went back to the raised table. "What kind of technology are you talking about? For all we know you are just some freak of nature. Or genetic testing on zygotes. Can you show us some proof?" Adams asked.

"Proof that I haven't been miniaturized? You think I was born this size?" Rasa asked incredulously waving a hand to his stature.

"We could tell a lot from a biological sample. How can we take a DNA sample from something so little?" Nightow asked.

Adams looked Rasa over and shook his head. "We would have to take a sizable test sample from him. Cut his leg off for the blood drop test."

"No! No no don't do that!' Rasa shouted bringing in his legs as he sat on the plush surface. Arakawa also rounded on the two others for even thinking of harming Rasa for some test.

"It’d be pointless to do that because we would also need something to test it against. Similar in the DNA structure." Adams said. "Do you have anything of your brothers with you? Perhaps in the pill bottle you came in? Did he handle it at one point?"

"No, he left me with two old guys in a cafe. They are the ones that had the bottle and tissue, so it wouldn't be Arthur's DNA on there." Rasa said and checked his pockets. He noticed that they were still red stained in the folds. "Oh yeah, that’s right.”

All three leaned in.

"The assholes that are holding my brother hostage tied his hands together with wire and it cut into his wrists. To hide me from them, he held me in his hands and I got his blood all over myself. I tried washing it out of my cloths but I didn't have anything else to change into so there is still blood in the fibers." Rasa said taking off his shirt.

He laughed and motioned for Ms. Arakawa to turn around while he took off his pants. "You have to beware of the sheer magnitude of what I got under here." He chuckled as he dropped his jeans around his ankles, putting them in a pile and stepping back from it. Making sure his boxer shorts were still decent enough for coverage. He put his shoes back on because he felt truly naked without them.

"The DNA in his blood had been miniaturized and re-enlarged as many times as I have been, so that should be proof. You should find some similarities as well as anomalies in his DNA and mine." He said and realized now he had to give a sample to test against.

He was not at all eager to donate a leg for a blood sample but had an idea, unconventional and kind of sick though it may be, he still had to go. "Can I have a Petri dish please?" He asked the men. "You should really keep averting your eyes little Miss." He said to Dr. Arakawa over his shoulder.

A 3 foot tall and 15 foot diameter dish was laid out in front of him and he got in, strode to the center of the dish and proceeded to pee all around the inside of it. He didn't appreciate how much he had to go until he thought of the other option of loosing a leg or facing a needle to draw out the sample that way. He hated needles. Especially when they would be like thick sharp poles jabbing into his tender skin. "The things I do for science." He said, writing his name all over the inside of the Petri dish.

"That should be more then enough." He said and climbed back out of the dish.

The guys just chuckled and Nightow went to run the tests real quick to prove or disprove his status of being just a normal but miniaturized human. Secretly, the technicians knew that they didn't need a DNA test to prove his humanity. He acted like any human would under the circumstances. The little man showed a sense of humility as well as pride and humor, bravery and bargaining for his and his brother's life were evidence of self preservation and self awareness. Also, the fact he was able to produce a waste sample, meant that he eats and that made him a living being, so they knew he wasn't a little programmed robot.

All of these were testable facts. He showed every sign of being a normal human being, except for the size. The lab techs wanted other examples of how smart he was, if he was able to produce the technological wonders that he boasted or if he was just a lab rat for the real scientists. If Rasa was going to get them into serious trouble in going back home and rescuing his brother, they had to know that it was worth the risk. Otherwise, they just spent 500,000 dollars on a man that wasn't theirs to own. They would be like a slave trader at that point. As long as he was little, they could claim he was just an experiment, and not a real human being.

"Hey, can I have a pencil?" Rasa asked. "And some paper?"

A sizable sheet of white paper was laid out onto the table top and a number two pencil on top of it. Rasa walked over to the pencil laughing. He sat down on it. "Now, can  _I_ have a pencil? Heh, umm do you have those mechanical refill pencil's here?"

Adams and Arakawa searched around all of the desks in the offices and found a pencil like that and removed the lead refill from it, breaking up the slender tube of graphite into tiny pieces they gave it to Rasa.

"Thanks. Ok now I'm gonna draw you the basic layout of the miniaturization machine. Also of the Control panel so you know the layout." He said as he walked along the sheet leaning over with the lead making a more or less straight line 15 feet long. He then stood back from it and proceeded to draw out the Control panel first, indicating the right buttons and levers to use in the correct order to bring him back to normal size. Then of the machines internal mechanisms. He kneeled down onto the sheet and drew in detail the wiring and hardware's circuitry. Too small for their eyes, the drawing would have to be scanned and enlarged to see the fine details of the soft pencil lead on paper.

"For all I know you could be making this up, we would have to build this machine ourselves to see if it works. Is there another way for you to show us how smart you are? That you are capable of building something so advanced?” Adams said.

Arakawa had the idea of bringing over a piece of equipment that they could never get working correctly. Rasa was anxious to get going to his house but knew that these guys needed some kind of guarantee that he wasn't going to run away and not deliver on his promises.

"Ok, bring it here." He said and they set down a weird looking machine in front of him with a keypad and display screen. "Is this a model Inga capacitor? I haven't seen one of these in awhile. So it's not reading the radiation levels for something?" Rasa shouted upwards as he walked around behind the machine.

"Take off this back panel for me. And pull out the memory storage unit after that. I'm gonna need some tools." Rasa said backing up from the fifty foot long keypad.

They did so after much debating on what the memory storage unit looked like.

"It's got a lot of stuff attached to it from a set of cables. Just cut all of them with wire cutters and pull it out. Make sure you have plenty of wire on both ends to reattach later." Rasa instructed pointing to the unit.

"Ok that's good, now bring it back over here and give me something I can work with. Take a hammer and flatten out the end of a bit of wire. I guess I can use that like a flat head screwdriver..." Rasa said rubbing his scraggly beard in concentration. It would be a challenge but that was fun for him. "No, smaller, I can't pick that up easily." He said at the long pole he was given. They shaved off three fourths of an inch from it and he grabbed it and climbed inside the machine.

Adams brought over a video camera and finally started taping the events. Zooming in on Rasa walking around inside the machine, trying to get his bearings. The camera could only capture that there was a blurred mass moving in the computer, it couldn’t focus on something so small amongst the circuits and wires he was next to. Rasa told them what he was doing in there so they could fix the device later should it break down again. Arakawa would help out in moving parts or cutting wires for Rasa, and started to enjoy working with him on this project as it became more fun then trying to prove anything.

Nightow was busy in the other room examining the two DNA samples and was amazed at the findings. Some of the cells in Arthur’s blood were still miniature while the majority of cells were normal sized. Rasa's were all small of course and had to be magnified over seventy times more to even see them.

Nightow documented everything he was discovering and was convinced that he could even make clones of the brothers should they both perish that night like Rasa was implying. Continuously making miniature clones as each would die from suffocation in the normal sized air. The human side of Nightow was appalled at the thought of that, but the scientist side was enthralled by the potential.

"Ok, that should do it. We also made it run faster so the lag time between tests is shortened by at least a few minutes." Rasa said wiping off his hands on his shorts. "Hey, is he done with my cloths yet? It’s cold in here." He said folding his arms over his bare chest.

Adams went into the lab where Nightow was sitting on edge. Clearly considering a moral versus material dilemma. "I have an idea. We take Rasa home, he is turned back to normal, we save his brother's life, they give us all of their technology then we let them go.  _Then_ . We make clones of them from their DNA." Nightow said biting his thumbnail.

"What?"

"Look at these readings! We have enough data here to make at least ten copies of miniature Rasa. It wouldn't be a full sized clone, so Albert could not even tell the difference! Everyone wins!"

Adams stood there looking at the computer read out. There was mountains of information there. But was it moral to clone someone and use those clones as guinea pigs. When Rasa holds up his side of the deal, they would have the machine to make anything small, or anyone. Would they need Rasa's clone if they could just make another miniature person. Maybe even miniaturizing one of themselves, just to see what it's like.

"It’s a dangerous thing to play around with Nightow. We should wait to see what Mr. Biminy wants to do. We didn't tell him about the deal we made with Rasa." Adams said.

"He doesn't have to know."

"He knows everything that happens here! Are you really going to try to pull one over on him? He can always tell when someone is lying to him and they are usually punished severely for it." Adams said laying a hand on Nightow's shoulder. "Trust me."

Together they went back to Rasa's table and Arakawa had already put the machine back together and turned it on. They used the Inga capacitor to do a quick test on Rasa's cloths that they brought back in and it showed a nominal amount of radiation coming off of them.

"Were you exposed to gamma radiation hahaha, do you shrink when you get mad? Like a reverse Hulk? More likely, did you have any x-rays done in the recent past?"

Rasa thought about that as he put his cloths back on. Unconcerned about some blip of radiation. "I worked with an X-ray wand for a few hours, about a week ago. Maybe some rubbed off on me. I don't really care at the moment about radiation." He shrugged. "So let's get going! It's gonna take some time to drive over to my house." Rasa checked his watch. "I have about two hours left to breath this air."

"Then... you start to suffocate...and then ... you'll die." Arakawa said sadly. She was getting to like this little man whom she had just met. Each time he coughed she felt closer to him in a emotional way.

"Yeah. I guess if all goes wrong, and I can't be re-enlarged right away at my house, all I have to do is to make it to the bio-dome to breath for a few minutes. Half an hour at most to clean out my lungs of this large air and replace it with the mini air produced by our three foot tall redwoods." Rasa said. "We shrunk the trees to produce the oxygen that the miniatures could breath. My brother Arthur made up a kind of green goop from the trees and injected it into me so I could breath the normal air longer then the few hours at a time. I don't know how to make it though, and anyways, I'm pretty sure we would need miniature redwoods to make another batch. It lasted for about twenty hours. But now that it's out of my system, I only have a couple hours left." He said and coughed some more. "Provided I stay calm and don't hyperventilate." He added wiping off his mouth of greenish saliva. "Don't really have enough time or information to figure out a different way to keep me from suffocating."

"Then let's get going!" Arakawa said looking for her purse and getting on her white lab coat.

The others were hesitant in moving but urged on by her to help him out. The risk is worth the reward. If they did nothing, he would be dead and they wouldn’t have any of his ground breaking new technology to study and play around with. They’d just have a tiny little corpse on their hands. No one wanted that, so they all got their things together to leave.

The pill bottle was brought back over and Rasa backed up from it. Adamant that he was not going to travel by that thing again. "Don't you guys have anything safer? Something where I'm not flung from wall to wall every few minutes?" Rasa shouted. "At this point I'm not concerned with dignity. Just get me something safer please!"

They went around the whole building and Adams found and brought back a glass jar filled halfway with something that resembled jelly. But it was crystal blue.

"What is it?"

"It's a substance that we use to grow plants in. It keeps the roots stable and visible as it feeds them but for you, it can support you without making you sink into it and it will keep you stable no matter where you go or how bumpy the ride. I'm hoping." Adams shrugged. "It's not like we've used it for tiny people before."

"Good enough for me. At least I can see where I'm going now." Rasa said and walked up to the jar. "Little help?"

Arakawa gingerly picked him up in-between her finger tips. Being extremely careful not to put any pressure on his body, just enough to keep him from falling. With her other hand, she poked a finger into the blue jelly and he slid right inside of the crater. The jelly molded around him and he thought it was the single most weird thing to feel while being small. More like Jellow molding to his form. He could still move his arms but everything under his pits was submerged and near motionless in the stuff.

The jar was picked up by Arakawa and brought out to the car that Nightow already had running to warm it up. The night was getting chilly.

"You locked up?" Nightow asked Adams.

"Yeah, I left a message for Mr. Biminy saying that we will be back shortly with a kick ass surprise."

"You're kidding right?"

"Of course I am. That man hates surprises." Adams said laughing. "And most everything else. Let's get this done quickly. All buckled? Arakawa? Nightow?" The others gave the affirmative and Arakawa held onto the jar tightly in her lap to keep it from moving too much. The car rumbled to life and they were all nervous about what the night will bring.

Rasa had a change of mind about being able to see everything through the glass jar. Nightow's arm swinging back and forth changing gears in the car as it sped and slowed would almost give him whiplash if he watched for too long. He looked up and could see some trees beyond the window of Arakawa's side as they passed by at breakneck speeds for as big as they were. He decided to just keep his eyes shut and head down for the majority of the ride. Occasionally giving advice on what roads to take to his estate house.

He was confused when the car made a sudden turn into a shopping area and pulled up to a Shopmart. "What are we doing here?" Rasa shouted upwards.

"I don't know. Nightow? What's up?"

"Hear me out before you say anything." He started. "None of us are combat ready. What do we know about fighting bad guys? We need to be stealthy in this operation. We don't have any guns to go in guns blazing." He said.

"It takes weeks to get a license to buy a gun, and then to learn how to use the thing. What did you have in mind." Adams said from the backseat.

"You'll see." Nightow said smiling.

The three techs and Rasa went into the store and passed by all of the electronics, bathroom and bedroom decor, and clothing racks.

"Here we go." Nightow said and walked down the toy isle. "Find something we can use for Rasa. Something he can ride without killing him."

"You must be joking."

Rasa sighed and checked his watch. "An hour and a half."He felt the rattle in his chest grow. "Waste of time."

"No really! Times have changed drastically for childrens toys. Look! They have helicopters that are smooth sailing and remote controlled with little video cameras attached to them! Small matchbox cars that you can tell where to go just by shining a red laser light on the ground. There's even these." He said and picked up a box on the bottom shelf. "You build your own robot! It raises and lowers this long arm from floor to three foot up."

The others looked at him then the toy aisle. They had to admit it was a fairly good plan, but, they had to be there with Rasa in order for the remote controlled devices to work. And if they were there, they could just take Rasa where he wanted to go. Rasa couldn't operate any of them by himself as he wasn't strong enough to hit the buttons.

They talked about what could be best used, the longest the range was on some of the remote controlled flying things, and other toys that might be helpful.

"Fine! Whatever!! Just pick out what you want to play with and let's get going!" Rasa shouted angrily. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life in a toy store!"

"He's right, let's grab everything and sort it out in the car on the way." Arakawa said, picking up a 'Super UFO flying disk' in her free hand. She started for the check out lane and the others met up with her with armloads of gadgets. She had to put Rasa's jar in her purse so they wouldn't think she was stealing him from the store. "Sorry" she whispered to him as she propped it up inside the purse.

He looked around himself and was actually curious what women kept in their purses. Mostly makeup, there was also the billboard sized wallet, change purse, pack of gum, some receipts and other papers, probably coupons. A jumble of random keys with different state key chains and odd doodah's. There were also two bottles of pills of some sort. He couldn't read the name brand labels but they seemed to be for heart arrhythmia and asthma. Underneath his jar he could see through the blue jelly a rescue inhaler on its side.

Rasa frowned at them and looked up at her with growing sympathy. She has the same problems he does. Only his breathing problems could be cured soon.

She reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet, paid for the 'UFO' and put her wallet back again, making sure Rasa was still ok in there. "We'll be in the car." She said to the others and went back out. The check out lady just looked at her funny and thought she referred to herself as ‘we’ because she was newly pregnant as she obviously left by herself.

Arakawa got back into the front passenger side and threw the UFO box into the backseat while carefully shifting her purse over to rest on her lap.

"Still ok there Rasa?" She picked the jar back out of her purse now that they were away from prying eyes.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me." He said softly.

She smiled turning the jar in her hands so he now could face her instead of the door. "I can't help it. I guess you could say it's because of my maternal instinct, but I can't stop worrying about you." She said, rubbing her thumb lovingly on the side of his jar. "Which is funny 'cause I've never had kids. Not for lack of trying, I just, never found the right guy. Always too busy for me or they felt like I was trying to emasculate them by earning the majority of the money for the house." She brushed back a lock of her long hair that fell in front of her face and almost into his jar. "No matter who I dated they never understood or accepted that my job does not define me, I'm not  _just_ a scientist. I have emotional needs too." she said sternly to the imagined line of old boyfriends outside her window. She then realized she wasn't just talking to herself and gave an embarrassed smile at little Rasa. Her hair fell in front of her face again.

"Oh listen to me! Here I am blabbing on... you're going to be alright. I just know everything is going to work out in the end." She nodded and placed his jar on the dashboard so she could put her hair up into a pony tail to get it out of the way. He gazed at her soft features and thought that those other creeps she dated were fools. She was a real angel.

"There we go." she smiled at him as she tightened up the pony tail so it would stay in place. She then gently picked up and held the jar with both of her hands like it was a warm cup of coffee on a cold day.

The others opened the back doors and put in several hundred dollars worth of toys, then got in themselves. This time Adams drove while Nightow was busy in the back seat, opening and putting the things together for the rest of the trip there.

None but Rasa could see that Arakawa was blushing the whole time.

 

 


	13. It’s at Author’s Discretion

C hapter Thirteen:  It’s at Author’s Discretion

 

 

 

" O h my gosh Steven! I can't believe how much money they gave us!" Arlene said excitedly.

"I know, it's all thanks to your perfect saleswoman pitch!" He was finally allowed to fondle her breasts while he drove. They congratulated themselves for a long while when Arlene got a phone call.

"It's Dad." She said to Steven. "Hello Daddy! Yup. Yes, 500,000 dollars!" She said excitedly. "Uh huh, yeah he arrived safely and wished us luck.... what diamonds?" She said.

Steven looked at her and asked her to put him on speaker phone. "Hi, Paul? What was that about diamonds?"

The electronic sounding voice spoke up, "Rasa said he would give us a bunch of huge diamonds and jewels for rescuing his brothers life. Millions of dollars worth. He said they were at his house ready to go. They didn't give you any?" Paul said puzzled. They could hear Tom in the background confirm about the promised jewels. "Did something go wrong?"

"No.... umm... when did he..." Arlene said and grit her teeth. They didn't even think of the potential of having a miniaturization and amplification machine. To make small jewels bigger. "I'm gonna have to call you back Dad." She hung up the phone testily. "Damn it anyway!" She cussed some more and threw her phone against the dashboard.

"What do we do now?" Steven asked.

"We go to the brother's house and get us some diamonds of course!"

"That brother, what's his name, Arthur, isn't going to give us anything if we don't have Rasa."

"Damn it. We have to go back to that lab and buy him back from those guys. Then take him to their house. Try to talk some sense into Rasa. Tell him to give us those jewels or else." She said making a fist. “He never mentioned any jewels to us, I don’t think he planned on giving us what was rightfully ours!”

They wondered what to do now that there was a chance at ridiculous amounts of cash to be had. "Honey... we need to get ourselves a gun." Steven said finally, and they turned the truck around to head for the nearest pawn shop still open that late.

They had to spend a few thousand dollars using his credit card on the ammunition and semi automatics and a few more thousand to get the pawn shop owner to sell them all of that that night without waiting weeks as required by law for the gun permits to go through. They left feeling determined and ready for a fight.

"It took a big chunk of change but those lab geeks wont know what hit them!" Steven said patting the black semi auto next to his seat. "Then we gotta get to their house and take out those bad guys before Rasa and his brother bite the dust."

"Why do we need Rasa? Is it alright if we go to their house and take out everyone there?" Arlene asked.

Steven took a moment to think of a plan. He was almost unnerved at how far they were willing to go for jewels but then thought of all of the wonderful things they could do with all of that money. Convincing himself that Rasa and his brother were no better then the kidnappers. “They got into trouble for a reason, those kidnappers hated them for some personal vendetta. Otherwise Rasa would never have been able to escape and reach the old guys at the cafe. The others would have just shot both Rasa and his brother then and there if it was a simple break in. Arthur left his brother in the care of the old guys because he was wanted by the bad guys. The brother needed to get Rasa as far away as possible. But why?” Steven thought aloud.

“Did Rasa have some information that was more important then his life? Something more valuable then the diamonds?” Arlene asked.

Steven thought about it while driving at top speed to the lab. Steven instructed Arlene on how to load up every clip they had bought, and to fill up her purse with as much ammunition as she could carry.

 

 

"When the hell are those guys going to get back here?" Trent said checking his watch. He got up and wandered around the garage for awhile as Author continued to stall for time.

"You can stop faking it now. I know what you're doing. I just wanted to see how many times you could take it apart and put it back together. 7 times should be a record. I'm assuming it still works?" Trent said standing over Author.

Author hung his head. "Yeah." He said defeatedly. "Lemme just test it first. I have to get something that is small to bring back to normal size first. I'm going to grab a car from the model." He said and went to leave the garage.

"Stop right there. We both go." Trent said walking directly behind Author. They went back inside and downstairs.

"Should I try bringing back the animals?" Author wondered out loud.

"Why? Are you planning on bringing back something else that's alive?" Trent asked, already knowing the answer. "If Rasa isn't here at home, then where would he be? I didn't notice any redwoods in that house model and you had two mutts in it. How is it that they could breath alright in there without the mini tree's supplying oxygen?" Trent asked. "The normal sized moss and bonsai trees would just produce regular sized air, not the miniature kind that the dogs or Rasa would need."

Even thought Trent put on the visual impression of a big dumb hick, he displayed striking intelligence and observation. There was no wonder why he was the boss of the gang. He towered over Author and was toying with him the whole time. Making him feel like a young child trying to pull one over on Dad.

“How did you do that?”

"Magic." Author said moodily. Trent cuffed the back of his head as they went to the basement.

Author clenched his teeth and detested the thought of not being in control. For 3 months inside the model he had little control over anything real. He thought that now that he was normal sized again that he could live the way he wanted to. His whole bruised and broken body reminded him of how little power he had in this life as well and thought that it would soon be over. He just prayed that his brother wouldn't be taken down with him. It would have been better to have just left Rasa at home while they went to the old diner. The rats had been put away so that danger was gone. Rasa then could have figured out a way to get to the machine, rewire it or something and get back to normal size when his time started to run out. Author checked the clock on the wall and made a guess about how long Rasa had to live before suffocating, then set his wrist watch timer to the estimated deadline. He shuddered at the thought of Rasa going through what he himself went through on the desktop. The most painful experience his body had ever felt.

But the thought of loosing his younger brother, his only family left in this or any world, was too much to bear.

"Where are you Rasa?" He whispered.

 

 

Finding Biminy Laboratories empty, Steven and Arlene decided to go to the brother’s house immediately. Figuring that Rasa must have promised the lab guys the same thing he promised Arlene's dad and his friend Tom.

"Damn it, they left a while ago, that means they must be headed towards the house. Where was it again? Northwood and what?"

"We will just have to go down the length of that street, look for something that could be their house."

"Should never have left him with those lab guys. We should have figured that Rasa would be worth more to his brother then those lab geeks."

"Live and learn." Arlene said as she shot off a couple of rounds of live ammunition from the speeding truck. Aimed high enough in the air to not hit any passersby or houses.

"Damn it! Lemme know before you do that!" Steven shouted at his wife.

"What?" She shouted back, wiggling a finger in her ears. They rang for a long time afterwards.

'Turn left ahead.' The electronic voice instructed. After an hour, the voice said, 'Northwood, three hundred yards.'

"Get ready Honey." Steven said as he pulled out the semi auto and aimed it out of his side of the truck while Arlene did the same on her side. Driving very slowly down the long street, searching for their target.

 

 

Author dropped the diagram at the front step to the house on the way in, it had the message written on it in numerological code for Rasa to intercept, and translate.

Together Author and Trent went downstairs to find something that the machine in the garage had shrunken. They couldn’t use any random little object because the same machine had to be used both shrinking and enlarging again. The information was not shared by the two machines.

Author wondered how to make the machine in the garage blow up using the stored energy of all of the miniatures that it had manipulated. But since he did not know how big or devastating an explosion like that could be, he didn’t want to risk it. In all, they had bought and shrunk nearly 50 motor vehicles of all types for the model over the years, and having 50 vehicles suddenly return to their normal size in a huge burst of matter and energy could take out not only their house but also their neighborhood. A needless and over excessive means of getting rid of a few bad guys. Never mind the fact that the others were not there yet. There had to be an easier, less destructive way.

Trent went over to the model and opened the hatch over Vela, where the 'rich' people lived.

Author found and tied a length of tiny phone cable line to a bolt on the control panel for the miniaturization machine while Trent was busy picking out the vehicle he liked most and wanted to re-enlarge for himself. Author then casually stood in front of the bio-dome holding an empty Vicodin bottle in his left hand. Trying to be brief over there before Trent noticed what he was doing.

“Always wanted to ride around in a limo.” Trent said smirking as he tried to look inside of the little limo. “Damn, I put a dent in the sides when I picked it up. Where was that other one? I thought I remember there being more in here?”

Author brought the bottle back out of the bio-dome and sealed it again without raising suspicion.

“You should be more careful with those cars. Besides, the last time I was in the model I was too busy being hunted down by a mob so sorry if I don’t know where it is.” Author said offhand.

“I hear the words ‘I don’t know’ come out of your mouth again I’m gonna sew it shut! I swear, all you know how to say is 'I don't know'." Trent said rounding on him. “Now get your ass back out there and back to work. This limo will have to do.” He said inspecting the damage.

Author quietly trailed the phone cable line behind himself and up the stairs to the side door where he dropped the remaining spool onto the ground outside. Author pretended to shut the door but it was actually left ajar.

They start walking over to the garage and Author placed the small limo in the driveway that led a winding path around the large estate house. The garage was mostly tucked away behind the house and some thick greenery that desperately needed trimming. The long pool at the other end of the grounds also needed tending as it was filled with algae and there were weeds growing in the cracks of the patio around it. The whole grounds had a eight foot tall fence line surrounding it with electrical currents running the entire length, and barbed wire just in case. The house itself was on top of a slight hill, and could be seen from the street. The overgrown Louisiana land specie of grass was littered with intimidating and mean looking booby traps and cannons to let anyone who dared step foot on the property know that they were not welcomed and would be dead if they ventured closer.

But all of that did not stop the spray of bullets that splintered the wooden fence and crackled the whole length of the house and garage roof.

“What the hell was that?!” Trent shouted.

They heard tires squeal around and another barrage of heavy duty shots batter against the grounds this time. Sending up waves of dirt and plants into the air. A scream was heard above the noise, “Where are the diamonds?!” Followed by another round of destructive bullets plowing right through the fence in some spots.

“Get down Author!” Trent shoved him to the floor as he too hit the ground quickly. Trent still didn’t understand how to work the machine so he needed Author alive.

 

 

“Did you get him Sweetie?” Arlene asked Steven as he reloaded his rifle with another clip.

“No, I missed and hit the shrubbery. You said you saw them in the garage?”

“Yeah, two guys in the garage. I don’t know if there’s more. That rich brother must be held captive inside the house. Let's take these bastards out!” She screamed and sent wave after wave of bullets into the garage.

Trent dove for cover behind the metal workbench and made it lay on its side to protect himself. Author was against the side wall with the miniaturization machine in front of him. He brought it in closer to himself as protection against the indiscriminate bullets that riddled everything in view.

Trent finally got to his shotgun and started to fire at the truck that kept driving by the estate house. Only shooting when they were in direct line of sight. Finally the truck was heard parking in front of the house so the guys in the garage could not see them.

Arlene and Steven got out of the truck and went to the corner of the house closest to the garage. Moving his rifle far out from the corner, Steven shot wildly around in the general direction of the garage.

Trent aimed for the protruding arm and shot at it. He landed several blows to the wooden rifle stock instead, and it clattered to the ground. Steven couldn't reach for the gun without risk of loosing his arm in the process. A few more shots were taken to the rifle, making sure it wouldn't be usable again. Pieces of metal flew off of it from the additional blasts and sprayed the pissed off man who dropped it.

“Give me that Honey!” Steven said to Arlene who gave him her semi automatic as she pulled out her handgun and went around back of the house.

 

 

“What the hell is this shit?! Did the cops find us?” Shauna asked William in the passenger side. The meager batch of gems they had stolen from the jewelers did not amount to much but they heard from their police scanner that there was already an APB search out there for their gray van.

They caught sight of the strings of holes in the sides of the house, as well as the holed fence and yard in front of the house so they drove around to the other side of the estate and saw Steven and Arlene. “Those guys are not cops! Shoot them William!” Shauna shouted as he opened fire on the two sneaking around to the other side of the house.

It was now a gunfight between Shauna and William in their van and Steven and Arlene next to the house. Trent was still in the garage and waited for the next onslaught to come back around. The sounds of the gunfight echoed down the street. Thankfully, the neighborhood is so spread out with very wide yards in-between houses that the bullets that went awry did not do much damage to the others properties.

Trent crouched down behind the metal worktable with his shotgun resting on the edge for stability. Aiming it left and right, trying to determine what was echo and what was the actual shot. He was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice Author now pointing the machine in a new direction.

Author rewired the last cable and turned it on when Trent stood up. Trent was still standing but now no longer seen under the mess on the garage floor. The shotgun clattered to the ground noisily.

“Gotcha you fuckin bastard!” Author shouted to the spot where Trent stood.

Trent was so startled at the bright lights, loud sounds and drastic change of scenery he thought that the whole garage had collapsed on him but he was just standing next to some debris that fell earlier at his feet. Now, they towered over and around him. He looked over and saw his shotgun's stock laying down next to him, about two stories tall now.

“You got to be fucking kidding me!” Trent shouted.

Author inched his way over to where Trent had dropped his gun. He saw him standing there amongst the rubble, smirked triumphantly, and flipped the bird to the little person. Author then turned around with the shotgun in hand and waited in the garage for anyone else that dared show their face. He decided to stick with what he knows and so he picked up the heavy miniaturization machine and angled it out of the garage door and waited.

The sounds of gunfire were clearly heard smacking the side of the garage but he knew that no bullet could penetrate the ultra hardened concrete and steel walls of the garage itself. The various experiments the brothers did in there required heavy precautions.

Author then remembered something important and felt his pocket for the Vicodin bottle and pulled it out. He looked inside and smiled at the contents. Putting them gently onto the ground, he re-enlarged the two dogs that he found in the bio-dome. They were startled by everything around them changing so rapidly, but soon recognized Author and went to his side and cowered behind him. He pet their heads and kept them quiet and more or less calm. He couldn’t use the horse or cow for this battle but knew the dogs he bought were well trained and already faithful to him. Even so, it would take them some time to listen to the orders they were given, and they had some pretty important orders to follow.

The sounds of the gunfight slowed as Author assumed someone was going in for better position. He didn’t want to kill anyone and was a terrible shot in any case. He aimed the machine at something small in the driveway. Just barely making out its black shape on the cement from where he knelt. Quickly rewiring the machine for inanimate objects again, his fingers were cut by the wire but he had to get it set up fast. One of the dogs was growling fiercely at the intruder but wasn’t allowed to go chase them down.

Movement in the driveway caught Author's eye.

“Shit!” He shouted and pounded the controls with his fist.

 

 

“Hurry, my house is down this street.” Rasa held out his arm as he was held up to the window to see where they were.

Just then an enormous explosion was heard in the direction to where Rasa pointed. Things flew out in all directions, most tumbling haphazardly close to the ground, and other fiery chunks of metal arched and fell from the sky. One landed close to the car as it kept speeding down the street towards the smoke cloud.

“What the hell was that?!” Adams swerved left as a huge rear view mirror landed harshly next to the car that was roughly the size of a laundry basket. It bounced in the street and the mirror shattered all over the road before the main bulk rolled over and finally rested against the curb behind them.

“What is that!?” Nightow yelled at Rasa from the backseat.

Rasa was in shock. His ears rang from the men shouting in the car and his mind blanked out from the sight of his house on fire down the street. Refusing to accept the horrendous sight before him. It looked like a bomb went off in his driveway.

“Arthur... Brother?....” He said disbelievingly. “NOOOO!” Rasa was beside himself with fear for his brother's life. Black smoke billowed from the scene and swirled in the wind.

The car passed by some neighbor's houses and more and more pieces of limo was spotted here and there crashing down and littering the entire area. Thankfully the brothers did not live in a densely populated area but as it was, there was still a half bent steering wheel sticking out of a pool in the neighbor's back yard.

The large guard dogs were far too frightened to go across the street like they had every night that week for Author's protection. The Makon's too, did not want anything more to do with those 'crazy messed up neighbors' of theirs. Opting for cowering in their basement until it was all over.

Meanwhile the tech's car swerved here and there to avoid hitting the larger debris. “These pieces, they don’t all....I mean, each piece looks like it's a different size from the next! If a car was blown up to that size then all of the pieces should match that, but look! There’s the other side mirror that’s as big as a car! What the hell went wrong?” Adams said as they all looked at the bits of limo. "What could survive that explosion?"

“No.... Arthur is alive. He can’t die. He’s alive.” Rasa said over and over.

Arakawa held him close and prayed that his brother was alive too. Tears streamed down their faces just looking at the burning roof of the house and the trees that smoldered from a door that landed against them. The top edge tapering off to a normal side while the whole base of the same door spread out and was warped five times larger then it should be.

They drove their car down the block and stopped before going in front of the Tubris house. Adams and Nightow got their toy helicopters ready to go video record what was going on before entering the property. They heard the gunshots from down the street just before the explosion but didn't realize what they were until they saw the bullet holes riddling the whole length of the neighbor's fence. Whoever the shooters were, they were no longer on the street they were on and Adam's did not want to drive any closer before they had a video feed on the activity in the area. The men readied the surveillance gear as Arakawa and Rasa tried to come to terms with what immeasurable struggles lay before them.

Arakawa saw the look of fear in Rasa's face and after much deliberation she said "Let's go Rasa!" and jumped out of the car before the others could protest. She was bravely running with the jar in her hands straight for the house.

 

 

A nanosecond after hitting the control buttons and before the explosion, Author grabbed a firm hold of the two dogs and ducked as the wave beams hit the miniature limo in the driveway. But because it was in-between biological and mineral settings, it had re-enlarged some parts of the limo more then others, causing the insides to burst immediately into gas and creating the explosion. When the solids skipped the liquid stage of matter straight for the gas it had no where to release the energy but out from the central core of the object.

Author was lucky to escape injury from the explosion and dragged the machine back deep into the garage along with the dogs. They continued to bark fiercely at the intruders out side of the garage to the left side.

Steven and Arlene were still pinned down by Shauna and William on the street. No one had walked into the driveway, Author imagined that a branch falling was someone trying to get in. Next time, he would make sure there was a person there.

Author had only a minute to reprogram the machine yet again to shrink whatever organic material he aimed it at. Because he took it apart and put it back together at least 7 times that day, he was more familiar with it now then when they first built it. Reprogramming it quickly became easier to do. He planned to shrink them all and sort them out later when they are harmless. So he waited with his finger on the button.

Smaller fragments of limo still fell from the sky as smoky projectiles. The shooting had stopped but it was an uneasy quietness. Everyone's ears rang painfully from the explosion.

 

 

“Steven! We should just forget about the damned diamonds! We’re gonna be blown up if we stay here!” Arlene shouted at her husband.

He was too busy reloading the semi automatic rifle with the bullets from her purse. “Think of the kids Honey, think of the kids. Don't you want to live in a big old mansion like this?” He said knocking on the siding of the brother's house.

“I’d rather live in a hovel then die next to a mansion!” She shouted at him.

 

 

“Why did they stop shooting? Are they out of ammo? I wonder if they got hit from that explosion.” Shauna asked as she too, took the time to reload.

“I don’t know, who are they anyway? If they were cops -the back up should be here by now.”

“Do you think they might have Rasa with them? Like maybe he hired them?”

“Maybe. But then, where is he? I say we just waste these guys.” William said aiming his gun out of the vans window.

Shauna watched the spot next to the mansion where they suspected the two to be but the shrubs no longer moved. It seemed that the two had moved on.

“We gotta meet up with Trent, my bunny might be injured or pinned down in the garage.” Shauna said.

“He’s  _your_ boyfriend, why should I get involved?” William asked.

“Because you are! We are all in this together remember? It's 3 against 2, we got better the great odds! So let's get over there!” Shauna said and ran for the backyard of the house with William reluctantly following close behind. Circling around the back part of the enclosed swimming pool area, they managed to avoid the unwanted attention from the two still in the shrubs.

They had to wind around to enter the garage from its front wide open door as there was no rear door to the garage.

The second they both stepped foot in front, their world became very bright, large and terrifying.

 

 

“Yes! That’s two more, William and Shauna I think... where are those others?” Author said powering down the machine to let it recharge for the next round. The dogs were confused as to where the intruders just now went and were still held back by Author’s hand.

“Who the hell were those other shooters anyway? Why did they just start firing at us?” He asked the dogs.

“Shit... well, I better go get those two from the driveway...” He said grudgingly. He cautiously made his way just outside of the garage and found Shauna and William standing backs together next to a flaming piece of limo another 3 feet away. Kneeling down, Author looked irritatedly at them.

“Come here.” He said angrily, holding out his left hand palm side up. His consciousness wouldn’t let him rest until the helpless people were safe. “If you want to live get over here!” He said to them and looked around the dark property for the other shooters.

Shauna and William fearfully backed up away from him, but then realized that if he wanted them dead he would have just thrown rocks at them, or worse yet, leave them alone in the driveway. They debated whether or not to trust him or take their chances out there.

Author huffed at their indecision then turned around, he picked up one of Rasa's old work gloves and made the dogs smell it to get the scent. He then ordered the dogs to just find Rasa while the shooting was on hold. Author could not move from his position inside the garage because the house was nowhere near enough cover for the attack that never seemed to end. If Rasa was still alive and able, he would have come back home by now.

The two dogs searched and sniffed everywhere around the estate.

The dogs were ignored by Steven and Arlene who made up a plan to split up and take on the garage by both sides. They still didn't know where the others were at and went very cautiously and slowly.

Author snuck out of the garage the rest of the short distance and picked up Shauna and William against their will. He dropped them into the Vicodin bottle and shoved it into his jacket pocket.

Gunshots were heard from the side yard as a single car sped on down the street. It was riddled with bullets as it passed by. Author heard it stop just past the neighbor’s house and soon after saw a toy helicopter and moon shaped disk fly around his yard and up to the house. Circling around the property high into the sky and back down swooping low just above the grass. The two others were shooting the moon shaped disks which helped take the attention away from Author.

“Wha...?” Author said looking at them swoop around. The other shooters were now solely focused on taking down the toys. The two dogs started barking fiercely as Author saw a moving shadow hunch over close to the side door to the house.

“Heel boys!” He shouted and angrily aimed the machine at the person trying to sneak inside his house. It was a real person this time, and they would not get away so easily.

 

 


	14. Little woman, Half way

C hapter Fourteen:  Little woman, Half way

 

 

 

T he woman spun around to shield something in front of her from the brilliant white blast and she fell to the ground behind the main bulk of remains from the limo before the waves were completed. The dogs ran back to the garage and sat obediently next to Author, waiting further commands.

The jar fell in front of her as she went down and she collapsed to her side next to it. Her head was throbbing and she felt a tingling sensation all over her body as she sat up on the ground. Her eyes had a hard time focusing, but when they did she did not believe what she saw.

The jar and Rasa were suddenly somewhat larger now, and he was gaping at her just sitting there. The bizarre expression on his face unsettled her.

“Rasa... how did you get bigger? The jar too? But you're not full sized...” Arakawa said standing up next to the jar that at this moment came up to her waist, about the size of a wooden barrel. She walked over to it and pulled Rasa out of the blue jelly and set him down on the driveway next to the jar.

He fell to the ground coughing. She knelt down next to him, laying a gentle hand on his back and thought that he was about the height of a doll now.

He wiped his mouth and ignored the blood he coughed up. Wiping it on his pants he got to his feet and walked up to her. Trying to wrap his mind around this new strange turn in events.

“Hun.... umm. I didn’t get bigger.” Rasa said slowly, looking up at her. “You got smaller.” With his arm out, he gestured at the enormous world around her and guessed that even though she shrunk, she wasn’t as small as him at the moment. “I'm still just over an inch, and you’re, I think you are about 7 inches tall Babe.” He said up to her trying to break the news gently.

“What?!” She said backing up from him. “But how? I thought that you needed to be inside that machine in the basement. You said it was in the basement!” She said cowering down from the huge debris of the limo that was shielding her from Author in the garage. It prevented the machines waves from finishing the job of making her an inch tall like it was programmed to. Bewildered, she paced back and forth next to him, even stepping over him a few times without realizing. All the while she was heard whimpering and bemoaning her plight.

He took a few dozen steps away to give her room to fret. “Calm down! It's ok, we can fix this! At least you aren’t as helpless as I am!” He almost laughed. “Looks like my brother is shrinking everything in sight!” Rasa said jogging over to where he hoped he could see him in the garage. From his vantage point, he couldn't tell who was there, but believed it was Author. “You go man. Shrink 'em all and sort them out later.” He laughed giving the thumbs up but suddenly started to really choke and cough hard.

Arakawa snapped out of it when she heard him cough. “Oh no, we have to get you inside!” she picked him up in her arms and ran towards the side door of the house. There were only two half steps into the side door but she had to put him down on each before climbing up herself. Large chunks of limo were driven deep into everything. Implanted all over the near side of the house and some pieces fell to the ground as she shoved the heavy door inwards. Rasa would have helped too but he was getting serious headaches and full body pains. All of the excitement was taking a toll on his little body and he shook uncontrollably in the chill of the night air.

The door only had to be opened two inches for both of them to enter and they nearly tripped over the metal wire on the floor.

“What is this?” Arakawa asked picking it up in her hands.

The huge door suddenly swung open and knocked her to the ground but sailed clear over Rasa’s head scaring the shit out of him. The mass of air current from the door made him fall over and slide some ways away until he ran right into a shoe left by the door, leaving him nearly unconscious.

An enormous dogs head peeked in through the door opening, looking everywhere inside before entering the house. It heard Arakawa's stunned noises below him and the dog lowered its muzzle. It snuffed loudly around the floor, kicking up dust in clouds. The immense hound put his wet thick nose over Arakawa's body. It whined excitedly at her as it found the scent it was looking for. The black nose was pushing her into the floor as it smelled her head to toe as its eyes darted here and there, trying to concentrate on the scent to figure out where it came from. The dog even stuck its heavy tongue all over her body to get a little taste of her while it sniffed her face.

She screamed in absolute terror at the huge beast, trying desperately to push it off of her with her hands and feet. Her screams roused Rasa from his stupor and he scrambled to his hands and knees.

The dog whined happily at the squeaking toy and then gingerly picked her up in his massive slobbering mouth and took her outside.

"No! Stop!" Rasa shouted and ran for the doors entryway.

He got there just in time to see the other large dog pick up the jar of blue jelly and retrieve it dutifully back to the garage. "Damn it!" Rasa shouted but then coughed violently. He had to get to the basement and get back to his normal size to help save her and his brother.

 

 

Author just stared blankly at little Arakawa in front of him. Dropped to the ground like the dog had just fetched a ball, she laid in a sore heap where she landed and jerked her head up to see what the furred monster was going to do next. Terrified it was now going to eat her whole.

She first saw two thick blue cylindrical masses that reached up to an untucked dirty t-shirt with a wide curtain of black jacket framing the view to both sides. She arched her head to look up even higher and became lightheaded from the more then vertical angle of a huge head directly above her. It sometimes blocked out the light from inside the garage sending deep shadows everywhere around her and gave an eerie look about him.

She sat back with her legs slowly kicking her away from the huge giant. Simply too frightened to get up and run.

The giant looked over and frowned at the dog and said in a deep booming voice, “Back boy”. The massive dog trotted to a spot just behind him and sat down wagging its tail waiting for him to throw the toy so he could fetch it again.

“Who are you?” Author said reaching out and picking her up in his bandaged hands. She didn’t seem the mercenary type and he wondered if she was actually an ally.

All she could do was stare at him panic-stricken, unable to scream at the sight of this beat up behemoth. His face was still a mess from Trent's attack early that same morning.

“I’m not going to harm you.” He said to her trying to give some reassurance. But just the sound of his loud voice frightened her even more. She tried telling herself that he was a 'good guy' because he must be Rasa's brother. But his grip on her body made her feel helpless and vulnerable.

The other dog retrieved the jar with the blue jelly in it, as Rasa’s scent was everywhere inside of it.

“What is this? You were holding this?" He asked her as he inspected the jar. It didn’t seem to be anything like a chemical based weapon, but he didn’t want to risk it. She could have been one of the shooters but now she was clearly harmless. He threw the questionable jar out of the garage and it rolled down the driveway to the street.

“It would be safer for you if you stayed...”

Just then a barrage of bullets sprayed the inside of the garage and he accidentally dropped her to the ground in front of him.

He reached over and grabbed Trent’s shotgun from behind and let loose a few rounds in that direction and was immediately set upon in the opposite by the second shooter.

“Fuck!” He shouted as he retreated to the rear of the garage again. “Come back here with me lady!” He said as the dogs both took off for the intruders. Barking and growling, trying to find the real bad guys. They ran across the tech guys instead who made it back to their car and were now pinned down by the dogs. Barking in a mad frenzy they were trying to get at the guys by lunging into the windows. Sometimes they’d leave the car to go bark at the shooters who missed hitting them again and again.

 

 

Arakawa was left in a daze laying there on the cement. The loud bangs of the gunshots made her head ache and her ears ring. She couldn’t hear Author and assumed he was abandoning her. So she turned around and ran back to the side door of the house, hoping to find Rasa still there. But he wasn’t.

Cautiously entering the house she had no idea of the layout, never been there before and besides that, she was lost in the enormous rooms she went into because everything was over 9 times her original size. Still, she knew Rasa needed her and called out his name into every corner of the first level. She almost tripped on the wire again and followed it over to the top of the basement stairs. She saw something move on the third stair down and let herself down the steps to meet up.

“Rasa? I’m coming down!” She said and went to the edges of the stairs. While facing the stair she slid down off the edge and landing with relative ease to the one below, considering they were as tall as she was.

He was gasping for air and loosing his bearings on which way was down. After some debating on what would be the safest and fastest method to carry him, she made sure her work shirt was tucked into her pants and took off her white lab coat, rolled it into a cloth tube and tied it around her waist as tight as she could stand. Making her shirt double as a carrier of sorts. She attempted to make the coat into a bag but it kept unraveling and wasn’t as secure. She then lifted Rasa up over her head and into the back of her shirt to carry him safely. The pockets on her white lab coat were not big enough for him and he was too weak to hold onto her neck or cloths while she climbed down. So the inside of her shirt next to her back was the safest place for him for the descent.

He slumped down and almost cuddled with her warm back. He tried to stay still but could not stop juddering, struggling to breath.

Using the cable line, she rappelled down the rest of the staircase to the basement. She followed the cable down a long hall, passing some rooms to the left and right and entered an enormous room with a lot of machines in it along with two very large domes at the far end of the room. She followed the wire up to the base of a particularly important looking machine and tugged on the cable.

It was secured to something on top.

She sat on the ground and untucked her shirt, pulling Rasa out of it to stand in front of her. His eyes were watering and he looked very pale with his mouth agape.

“Rasa.. Rasa.. is this it? This is the miniaturization machine?” She pointed up to it.

He nodded and tried to focus on the room. He looked behind him and started to stumble for the tubes platform that he needed to stand in to be brought back.

She picked him up and ran over to it, placing him down in the center of the circular platform. She kissed his forehead and had to give it her all to close the curved sliding door behind her. She then ran back to the controls for the machine and used the cable to climb up the side of it. Thankfully she had plenty of footholds in the side due to exposed circuitry and wires.

Throwing her hand over the corners edge she crawled on top of the slightly sloping control board. Her arms and legs ached but she ignored the pain as she tried to think back to the drawing Rasa made with the little piece of pencil on what levers and buttons to push. She walked around on the control board looking down at it.

“Oh jeez, I’m an idiot!” She said and pulled out that same piece of paper from her pants pocket. She then hit the dials and levers and prayed it wasn’t too late.

 

 

“Damn it lady! Get back here!” Author shouted but it was too late, she was already inside the house.

“Dogs! Heel! Damn it, heel!” He shouted for them but saw nothing after a few minutes. He grabbed the machine again and aimed it outwards, waiting for the first sign of movement. Several tense minutes passed as he moved the machine left and right, trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from. Wondering if he just imagined them.

Arlene jumped out first from the left side and was immediately hit with the machines bright waves and went down fast. Shooting wildly into the white light she missed Author and instead was hitting the machine with ever shrinking bullets.

“You Bastard!” Steven shouted frantically at him from the right side of the garage and let loose his last furious bullets directly at Author.

One hit Arthur’s left arm close to his shoulder and the machine fell to the ground aimed in Steven's direction. Surprised, he was unable to run out of the way of the blast waves fast enough. The falling semi automatic rifle crashed all around him, but spared his menial life.

 

 

Adams and Nightow flew their remote controlled helicopters around the estate house a few more times. Coming in closer to the garage they found only one wounded guy left. Since that man looked like the man that Rasa described as his brother, they dropped what they were doing and quickly ran over to help Author with their hands up in truce.

“Don’t shoot! We are friends!” They shouted.

Author was too injured to do anything. He leaned up against the fallen table and his left arm was limp at his side. He saw the two approaching him fast and was afraid that they were going to finish the job that the others had started.

Author’s watch beeped at him. He gaped at it as he heard it beep again, flashing its little light to indicate the end of his timer. Tears streamed down his face as he thought of Rasa. He never made it home.

‘Times up.’ he thought to himself and fell onto his back.

Adams spun around, waiting for an attack on them as Nightow went to Author’s side. “He’s hit, I think the bullet is still inside, the blood is only on the front of his shirt.” Nightow moved him into a sitting position to check for any other wounds.

“Is it him?” Adams asked as he stood guard. Picking up the shotgun that Author had next to him and aimed it outside of the garage, waving it left and right.

“Yeah, this must be his brother. He’s in as bad of shape as Rasa described, he also knew how to work that thing. We’re lucky he didn’t get us as well!” Nightow said, "Oh right, remember to watch your step Adams. Those shooters are still here we just can't see them in the rubble."

The dogs returned, and whined for their master's orders. "Down... boys..." Author said to them. The dogs immediately sensed that the two new guys were trying to help their master and stood by watching them. Author’s jacket was taken off so they could see the wound better and it was tossed to the ground. The opened Vicodin bottle rolled out of the pocket, but no one noticed or cared.

Author was picked up by Adams and Nightow and brought inside the house and set down on top of the kitchen table.

“Where is your first aid kit? Arthur?” Adams asked as Nightow applied pressure to the gunshot wound.

“Come on buddy, stay with us.” Nightow said tying the wash cloth from the counter tightly around his shoulder to slow the blood flow.

“Did he see Arakawa? Does he know where she went with Rasa?” Adams asked after locating a small kitchen knife he could use to cut out the bullet that was still inside.

“Never mind that, the shooting stopped so they're ok. Help me out here now. I can’t do this on my own Adams. Ok now Arthur? Bite down on this ok? It will help.” Nightow put a wooden spoon in his mouth and with Adams help, they were able to dislodge the bullet from the bone but lost it inside the shoulder’s tendons and the bleeding would not stop.

Arthur spit out the wooden spoon, “Forget about me... unnnmgh.... save him.... save my little brother...” He said between groans.

“Keep him still!” Nightow shouted as he went in deep with a set of pliers from their car.

Through the cries and moans of pain and heartache, he gasped “Save.... him...he’s dying...”

The dogs smelled something in the kitchen and followed it to the head of the basement stairs. They growled and ran down the steps, charging full on at the intruders.

 

 


	15. Perfect Size

C hapter Fifteen:  Perfect Size

 

 

 

T he door to the machine slid open and Rasa fell out of it in a loud fwump. Landing heavily on his right side he gasped for air and punched the floor several times. His long legs kicked about as his body struggled to relax. He coughed up more blood and looked wildly around the room he was in. His body tingled all over with the new oxygen pumping through his system. Lungs ached and his heart beat began to gradually slow down from the awkward pace. His head fuzzed and he fell limp on the ground, half on his stomach with a tired face angled to the floor.

“Rasa!” Arakawa shouted from the control board. She rappelled down using the wire cable and ran to his side. She stopped a few feet short and stared emotionally at his enormous immobile body in front of her. Tears fell down her cheeks. “Rasa...” she whispered.

She walked up to his slumped face and knelt down beside it. Stroking his flushed cheek with her hand. “Breath... please breath my little Rasa.” She cried with her hands gently holding the bridge of his nose, patting it to get it to work. She didn’t know what else to do. " _Please breath_ ."

His eyelids fluttered.

A huge hand came over and landed hard on the ground directly behind her. Startled, she jumped back from it against Rasa’s nose and mouth. He mumbled something behind her coat and lifted his heavy head from the floor and she fell flat on her back facing upwards.

He tried to focus his eyes to the thing under and in front of him. Smiling gently he said "oh hi" softly. His other hand was brought over and landed solidly on the ground to the right of her. Both hands slid forward as he rested heavily on his elbows directly over top her, trying very hard to keep himself from collapsing on the little lady. He breathed deeply for a few moments from his nose, and she felt the heat wave ripple her cloths as each one moved down her body. She suddenly started laughing where she laid. It was her turn to feel tiny!

He lifted himself up off of the floor with much groaning and sounds of suppressed pain. He had to sit down for a moment as his body needed to purge his system of the toxic air he had breathed. Taking deep breaths, he managed to regain more and more strength. He noticed her standing there in front of him, untying her lab coat from her waist and putting it back on. He swayed side to side, clearing his throat away from her direction and wiped off his mouth with his sleeves.

"Yuck." He said trying to hide the phlegmy blood from her. "I'm gonna quit smoking altogether. This is nasty." He said to himself, wiping his hands on his maroon stained jeans.

She walked over to a spot in front of him and watched him sit there for a few minutes. Trying to wrap her mind around the fact that he was not the huge one,  _she_ was the small one. Unlike with Arthur, she wasn't as afraid of this giant. Maybe it was the fact she spent more time with Rasa then his brother and grew to trust him implicitly.

She marveled at everything in the enormous room, looking way up at the two large city models resting on top of an even bigger platforms that would each rival the coliseum in Rome. Trying to imagine things from Rasa's old point of view, being only 1 inch tall instead of her current state of 7 inches. She didn't think she could cope with being even smaller then this and only at this moment, appreciated how much miniature Rasa must have gone through till now.

Walking around the lab room for a minute while Rasa was trying to clear his head and body of the toxic air, she found something very disturbing close to the desk. She had almost walked right into it because she was looking up the whole time. Letting out a shriek she ran back to Rasa's side and pointed with a terrified finger towards the desk.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he said leaning forward.

"There's... there's blood. There's so much blood over there! Oh Rasa... was that really him in the garage? Did you see who it was?"

"What are you talking about? Blood? Show me."

"No. Umm, you shouldn't look. Oh my gosh... what do I do.." She said holding up her trembling hands for him to stay put. He stood up tall over her and stepped past her as she ran out in front again to keep him back from the horrific scene.

"Rasa stop!" She shouted up to him. She didn't want him to see the spot where someone had recently died.

He marched over to the desk area of the lab and stood frozen when he saw the large pool of blood at the foot of the desk. It had found its way to the drain and then streaks of it ended where a blanket must have laid. A long thin line of blood to mark out the edge of the thing that took the body away.

He fell to his knees.

"It might not have been him Rasa... the guy I saw in the garage... it could be Arthur. He was beat up like you said he was."

"They had the guns... they wanted us dead at any cost... did those bastards shoot my brother?" He said touching the floor at the edge of the blood smear.

Arakawa was shaking her head in disbelief at the murder scene and was weeping as she stood next to his left knee. "It can't be your brother... Rasa. Who else knows how to use your machine? Think Rasa. Does anyone else besides you and him know how to use the machine in the garage?"

Rasa's tearful gaze fell on her looking purposefully up to him, challenging him. "No one." He whispered. His mind raced about all of the things that could have happened while he was away. 'Did Arthur teach those bastards how to use the machine? Then they shot him and took his body somewhere?' Rasa's eyebrows lowered at Arakawa and he got down on his hands and knees, nearly over her.

"What did he look like? Tell me exactly who you saw in the garage." He demanded.

She took a few steps back from him, stammering "He he he had blue jeans on. Messy brown hair. He was beat to hell, his face... his face looked like it had red marks all over it." She said nervously as Rasa leaned in uncomfortably closer. She remembered the giant's hands as they picked her up. "He had bandages on his wrists! Rasa - it has to be your brother. You said both of his wrists were hurt when he held you. Who else could it be?"

"No one else." He smiled with tears of relief landing all around her. "Thank you." he breathed. They heard something growl and other things move around upstairs.

“Arthur.” Rasa said hopefully and worriedly at the same time. He scooped up Arakawa in his left hand as he heard dogs at the top of the stairs charging downwards towards them.

He stood up tall in front of the dogs that were now leaping down the long hall, and held frightened Arakawa towards his right shoulder like he was cradling an infant.

“Down!” with a commanding voice he ordered the barking and growling dogs to submit to him. Once they smelled and recognized him they obediently sat down in front, whining with happiness. They then immediately got back to their feet and ran upstairs again with tails wagging, urging Rasa to follow them.

"So those are  _your_ dogs?!" Arakawa asked nervously. She shivered at the sight of the large mongrels running back up the stairwell at top speed.

"Yeah... don't worry, I wont let them hurt you again." He said holding onto her close to his chest with both hands now. He staggered to the stairs and at first took two steps at a time, but almost missed one and had to take the rest of the stairs at half speed. He was still dangerously lightheaded and wasn’t sure if he heard voices from the kitchen or if they were only in his head.

“Rasa, over there. Go over there.” Arakawa said uneasily, pointing to the right. Seeing the dogs again reminded her of their teeth, and the bite marks the brown furred one had inflicted on her when they were ordered to fetch. The teeth did not puncture her skin and the bruises would heal with time and a few ice packs but she did not want to be anywhere near those huge dogs.

Rasa heard her little frightened sounds whenever the dogs whined and barked so he ordered them back to the basement then shut the door.

"Thanks." She said patting his shoulder. "I think I hear some people in the kitchen. Be careful." She involuntarily cowered into his shirt collar.

Rasa picked up the tranquilizer gun that he used on trespassers, and checked to make sure it was still loaded. When Trent's gang came, Arthur must have been taken by surprise because if he had known they were approaching, he would have used his own methods of taking them out.

Rasa put Arakawa down on an end table to keep her out of harms way. "Stay here." he whispered and loaded a dart into the chamber and walked cautiously over to the sounds in the next room over. He peered in and saw Nightow and Adams working at something there. Figuring that it was all clear, he held the tranquilizer gun in one hand and with the other he picked up Arakawa again, taking slow steps to the kitchen.

Arthur was splayed out on the kitchen table and Nightow and Adams were busy working away on his arm. They didn’t notice Rasa enter the room.

“He’s loosing a lot of blood. Hold this for me would you?” Adams said handing the pliers over to Nightow.

“Yeah, there it is, that’s a bleeder.” Nightow said. “But I can't reach it in there.” He said sighing.

Rasa walked up to the table and put Arakawa down on top of it next to Arthur. Adams and Nightow didn't recognize him and jumped back, expecting to be attacked because he had a gun. Then looked down in front at something that moved and just stared at little 7 inch tall Arakawa.

“How? Why are...?” They asked both Rasa and Arakawa.

“Never mind that now. Which vein is bleeding? His left shoulder over there right?” She said walking around Arthur's head and over to his arm. She leaned over it, inspecting the large wound and reluctantly plunged her hands deep inside. She grimaced and felt sick to her stomach at the warmth of the living flesh pulsing and dripping all over her arms.

“Oh God... oh God this is so gross.” She muttered and grabbed a hold of both ends of the severed vein. “Get me a sewing needle and some thread! Quickly!” She said holding the two slippery ends together as best she could to keep the blood flowing through.

Rasa ran up to his parent's old room and flung open the door for the first time in decades. He searched through the very dusty and dirty closet and found an old sewing box. He put it under his arm and ran back to the kitchen, dumping it all out onto the kitchen counter. “Here, somewhere in here.”

Adams searched around for the smallest needle there and tied on thick black thread to the end.

Arthur heard Rasa’s voice and called him over. “I’m so sorry.... I left you there.... I thought I was helping you...” Arthur said weakly turning his head to look at Rasa.

“You did, you were helping. Don’t talk now Brother.”

“I’m sorry, it looks like.... you’re going to be... an only child after all...” He laughed lightly and involuntarily jerked as he passed out from pain. The bullet was found and pulled out of the wound by Nightow's pliers next to Arakawa's arms. Mindful not to graze her on its way out, so she wouldn't let go of the cut ends of the vein. The lopsided bullet was dropped to the table and rolled in a semicircle, leaving a thick red smear. Nightow left the table and went straight to the phone.

Rasa cupped Arthur's head in his hands “Wake up.. you’re gonna be fine... we're gonna get you to a hospital and you're going to be fine... you can't die...” Rasa said stroking the stray bedraggled strands of hair from Arthur's face. “You can't...”

"The paramedics are on their way." Nightow said holding onto the kitchen phone.

"Call again - call a different hospital and have them send theirs, we don’t know if they can get through the rubble from the eastern street." Adams said. "Rasa. These needles are too big for her to use. She’s the one that took the biomedical classes. We need to make these smaller, can you do that?"

Rasa just stood there with his hands holding Arthur’s head.

"Rasa! Tell me how to make these things smaller!" Adams gripped his shoulder and forced eye contact. Rasa faced him with tears pouring from his eyes, he finally gave a firm nod and led him out the side door and up the driveway to the garage. Searching around for the machine he eventually found it with some bullet holes into the side. It was missing several large support pieces and guessed that his brother did that because it still worked, at least it had before it was shot at.

"It looks like he set this up like a gun, we don’t want the things too small otherwise they’ll be worthless to her. Ok, I think if you hold the bag up, and drop it as soon as I turn this on, it should only shrink halfway like she did." Rasa said looking for the new 'on' switch.

"Just don’t get me in the shot!" Adams said standing off to the side and as far away from the bag as possible.

"And three, two, one, drop!" Rasa said. The bag was loosed and shrunk in mid air as it fell past the bright white waves to the ground, ending up as small as a thick tea bag.

"That’s good! Get it in there to her." Rasa said putting the heavy machine back down to the pavement.

He looked around at the rubble at his feet. He knew he would just be in the way in the kitchen and as Adams ran back into the house, he stood where his brother fell. Small drops of blood glistened in the light over the garage. He trembled with anger as he looked at all of the bullet holes in the garage walls, the house siding, the driveway and the huge chunks of limo strewn about everywhere.

He knew he was not alone standing there.

With growing seething rage he surveyed the wretched debris all around. "I know you can all hear me! So listen up!" He shouted angrily all around him. "Last week I made a promise to Arthur  _not_ to kill you! However! If he  _dies_ that promise dies with him!" He warned, kicking a still burning chunk of foam and fabric down the driveway.

"If you get to the bottom step next to the side door to the house, I will save your  _pathetic_ little lives." He pointed to the door while looking down at the ground. "You have only 3 hours to breath this air!" He took a few vengeful paces towards the house. Almost hoping to 'accidentally' step on one of them if they were in his way. He sneered at the clear path to the house and spun around to face the garage area.

"I don’t give a fuck if you all die out here!! I will  _not_ come looking for you! If you are not over there within 3 hours  _you will die_ !" He shouted ferociously.

Rasa spit at the exploded limo and went back inside the house. Just before slamming the door he shouted, "Three hours!"

He stormed into the house and the long entryway, passing the food storage room just off of the kitchen. His anger dissipated immediately and was replaced with remorse and grief for his brother. Unexpectedly, he happened to notice just then, the old hand written height marks on a thin partition of wall. A morose chord struck his heartstrings. Their loving and devoted parent's few height marks written in pencil, and their own heights measured all the way up from when they were 20 something's to 40 something's, every year without fail. Arthur had to tip toe to see, and with cursive handwriting he marked out Rasa's 5 ft 10 measurements. Rasa grazed his hand over his own sloppy handwriting for Arthur's height of 5 ft 4.

At first, it was a warm family tradition to show progression, but later, marking heights on the wall was a cold scientific way of making sure the machines worked properly.

Rasa rubbed his thumb over the last mark made for their father, their mother, and then the last one made for Arthur.

Memories and feelings flooded his exhausted mind as he tried to block them out to focus on the here and now.

He had to lean against that kitchen wall for physical and somewhat emotional support as he watched the others work around the table.

Arakawa had taken off her lab coat and put it next to her on Arthur's collar bone. Making it a work area to hold her tools to keep them from rolling off of his shoulder. She was standing on a phone book but still had to lean over Arthur's bicep to reach the hole in his arm. Numerous bloodied cotton swabs littered the table top that had been used to clean the wound. A bottle of Rasa's finest vodka rested on a chair for disinfecting the small tools before she used them. She occasionally pulled out her hands to wash them in the mug of liquor before going back in.

"Nightow, give me some light over here, I can’t see." She said looking up. She glanced over to Rasa in the doorway and gave a pained look at him. Nightow came back with a directional desk lamp and plugged it back in over the table.

"That's good, a little to the left. Yeah. Adams? I need more thread. And hold back this skin." She flipped it over away from the gaping bloody hole.

Rasa almost threw up. He left the kitchen and sat in the living room. Shaking and holding himself. He rocked back and forth listening to the near gruesome activity in the kitchen. He wanted very badly to help out in any way, but knew he would just be in the way.

Sirens were heard down the street and Rasa went outside to guide them around the debris to his house. They couldn't pull up to the house because of the totaled limo, Steven’s truck and the tech guy's car.

"He's inside. He was shot in the arm about fifteen minutes ago. Be careful of the metal chunks in the yard." Rasa said kicking and moving pieces of burnt rubble out of the way of the stretcher. "No! Not the side door, you'll step on them. Use the front door." Rasa helped them carry one of the defibrillator bag kits up to the house.

" _Oh shit,_ Arakawa! Get back please!" Rasa shouted before the paramedics could see her. He feared for her safety should they see a small person the size of a doll working on his brother. Adams quickly picked her up out of the bullet hole and with his left hand wrapped up the coat full of little tools. He swung her around behind his back just as the paramedics rushed into the kitchen. Adams then discretely shoved the coat full of tools into his pocket, and nervously motioned for Nightow to come over.

Nightow casually walked behind Adams' back and Arakawa was passed off and smuggled outside of the kitchen to the food storage room.

"I wasn't done yet!" She said holding the needle and broken thread up to Nightow.

"Shhh! They can't hear or see you. They would just freak out like we did when we first saw Rasa." Nightow said quietly. "They can take over now. You did good." He said smiling down to her. "Real good I'm very proud of you." He repositioned his hands so he was no longer grabbing her body but merely holding her up.

She smiled back and wiped off her arms onto his shirt cuffs and he brought over the bottom corners of his shirt for her to wipe off her face. “Sorry, Night...”

"I don't blame you at all. Don't worry, I can always get a new shirt later. We can clean you up as soon as the paramedics leave with Arthur." he said giving a grimace at the fresh blood covering nearly her whole body. "That makes two of you covered in that guy's blood."

"Literal blood baths, should only be in movies." she said wiping off her face again. "yuck."

Rasa trusted Arakawa’s friends to look after her and had to make sure to be back in less then 3 hours to return her to normal. Not to mention all of those people in the back yard.

"Sir, did you get hit too? Are you injured?" One of the paramedics asked Rasa in reference to the fact he was covered in maroon colored dried blood.

"No, I’m fine. It's his. Is he going to be ok?" Rasa asked.

"We gotta get him to the hospital fast. You can ride with us or behind in your car. Is there anyone else here that was injured in the explosion?" The paramedic asked looking at all of the debris as they wheeled Arthur outside.

"No, I don’t think so. We called another ambulance already, just in case. They should be here... here they come." Rasa said pointing to the flashing lights approaching from the other end of the street.

The gurney that Arthur was on was locked into place in the rear of the ambulance and Rasa jumped in with him. The whole way to the hospital Rasa held onto Arthur’s bed rail while the medic worked on his left arm.

"Are you a doctor?" The medic asked referring to the already stitched up arteries.

"No. My little girlfriend is though I think, not just one kind of doctor. Scientist too, my girlfriend is, I mean, my friend that is a girl..." He stammered and blushed. "Doctor, girl, friend." He just realized he did not even know her first name, or if Arakawa was her first name. He just knew he had fallen for her badly, more then the other girls he'd been with.

"Well she's good. I can’t say for certain yet but I think he can keep his arm thanks to her quick work." He said giving a smile to Rasa.

"So he's gonna live?"

The medic gave a concerned look, remembering not to raise his hopes too high. "He lost a lot of blood. We will be at the hospital in minutes." The medic said checking Arthur’s pulse and the dilation in his eyes. "All that blood on you is from him?" The medic said shaking his head at the sheer volume it would have taken to cover Rasa's cloths. He then eyeballed Rasa as a suspect in Arthur's numerous injuries. The blood was too dry for it to be from a 15 minute old gunshot wound.

"Long story, but yeah...it looks worse then it was..." he said looking down at his faded maroon splattered jeans and shirt. The chemicals Nightow had used to remove a DNA sample from them started to actually eat away at his shirt. Rasa poked some holes through it with a finger. He was trying unsuccessfully to distract himself from his unconscious brother on the gurney.

They arrived in through the emergency entrance, and Rasa was led to a waiting room just outside of the surgery ward. He couldn’t stop fidgeting and pacing around the room. He went to go smoke to pass the time faster but his cigarettes were all soaked with Arthur's dried blood from before. Staring hard at the deep red color he cursed and threw the pack away and washed off his hands of it in the drinking fountain.

A nurse would come out occasionally and give him updates on what Dr. Nancy was currently doing in there. Making sure that Arthur had no previous medical history that would interfere with the operation on his arm. No allergies to medication or any important information that they needed to know.

Rasa said that Arthur was diabetic, allergic to animal dander and recently fractured his left forearm just over a week ago. He was on Vicodin that was not prescribed to him and possibly other self medicated pain killers. He told the nurse that he nearly died of suffocation as well a little over a week ago, but had fully recovered from that.

It was the very recent injuries that the doctors were more worried about. Arthur was beaten up badly by at least three men and a woman, strangled from the look of red around his throat, and had obvious impact wounds all over his head and body. Rasa told them to also check for any diseases he may have from rat bites. He hoped that Arthur got those two test rats from a trusted pet store but he simply did not know.

The only thing that kept the doctors from calling the cops on Rasa in being a suspect in Arthur’s injuries is that Rasa looked in rough shape himself. Some whispered that the brothers fought each other and both should be arrested once they heal them first. Each would have to press charges on the other if that were the case. Still more were of the opinion that if Rasa had inflicted all of the damages on Arthur then he probably wouldn’t have called the paramedics in to save his life. It was apparent that someone wanted Arthur dead but it was not Rasa. Not by a long shot.

The kind nurse wrote down the information and told Rasa to go grab something to eat and drink and rest up himself, because he looked like hell. She was on his side.

He paced in front of the snack machine and his stomach growled noisily. Rasa checked his jeans for change and found the huge cookie crumb still wedged in his pocket. He stared at it and wanted to laugh at it, but couldn't bring the joyful noise out. Throwing it away in the garbage he wiped off his hands on his pants. He wanted to take an hour long scalding hot shower to just rid himself of all of the events since that morning. The memories kept coming at him relentlessly without remorse. Trembling slightly, his chest was sore and his head ached. He washed his hands again and again in the drinking fountain, he imagined the blood never washing away. Just like how no matter how many times he tried, he could not forget the look in his brother's eyes just before he passed out. He could not, however, remember what the last thing he said to Arthur was. He stared blankly at far wall, trying to keep it together.

A door swung open behind him and the doctor came out. Rasa spun around and strode expectantly up to her.

"Well, the surgery went well and he will keep his arm." Dr. Nancy said smiling. “He’s gonna be alright.”

Rasa lost all control of his body and he fell to the ground in a relieved unconscious heap.

The next thing he saw, was a dim ceiling light overhead and the top edge of an ugly beige curtain that curved from one side to the other. A rhythmic beeping was heard and he located the little heart monitor next to him. Beyond it he saw a figure shift in the bed next to the one he was laying on.

"Arthur?" Rasa asked in a choked up whisper. He put an elbow under himself and tilted to one side to see beyond the monitor. A loud beep scared him and it was because his own monitoring equipment fell off of his index finger when he moved.

A nurse came into the room and pushed Rasa back down to the bed. "Down boy." She chuckled.

"Is he ok?" Rasa asked looking over to the figure.

"Yes, he’s gonna be just fine. And you will too. If you stay put." She said adjusting him in the bed to lay down straight. She modified the oxygen levels to the tube that ran in and across his nose. He felt it around his mouth and it tickled his mustache. It felt good to breath normally for a change. He still wondered why he was admitted into the hospital along with Arthur.

"You are damn lucky." She said checking the clear drops of water entering Arthur's other arm. "Damn lucky to be alive."

"What?" He asked the nurse.

"You are almost in worse shape then he is! What on earth happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have huge bruises all over your body! Broken and bruised ribs, a sprained ankle, a rattle in your lungs. Not to mention the dehydration, small cuts all over your hands and arms. Sprained left hand. Large amounts of dried blood all over those cloths, and first degree sunburn on your skin!" She said shaking her head at him. He looked like a beat up stray to her.

"Oh... It's a long story." He said weakly. He hadn’t noticed the injuries because of his worrying for Arthur. But now he felt around his ribcage and located the moveable rib chunks from under the white bandages. He winced at the new pain and left the broken rib bones alone. Then inspected the rest of the damage to himself. His wrist was sprained from landing on it off of the second step going down to the third on his way to the basement. Thankfully Arakawa showed up when she did and was able to take him the rest of the way down.

The injuries were negligible in his mind, he was actually surprised that it wasn't worse then this because of what happened to him that day. He thought that because none of the injuries were life threatening, he was able to ignore most of the pain and focus on more important things at hand.

"And this poor guy, he must have been jumped by some gang and then shot." She frowned at Arthur. "I’ve seen this too many times." She said sadly. "But... all of it will heal with time."

"Time." Rasa said thoughtfully. "Time! Shit!" He said and checked his watch... it wasn’t there. Neither were his cloths, he was already in a white hospital gown and had been bathed while he was passed out.

"Where is my shit?" He asked the nurse.

"Watch your mouth in here!" She berated. "I don't know where your cloths went, but I suspect that they were sent into the directors office. Your other personal effects are in this cabinet." She said and pulled out a plastic bag with his wallet, watch and shoes.

He dove into the bag looking for something. "That’s right, I don’t have my C phone with me." He flashed back to seeing the gargantuan 'Trent' crunch it up in his hands and throw it against the lab wall. A chill ran down Rasa's spine. That crushed phone could have easily been him, as mad as Trent was. "Can I use your phone?"

"Yes you may." She said and handed over the hospital room phone. "Dial 9 to get out."

"Thank you Miss!" He said trying to be nice. He dialed the number to his house and as it rang he looked over to Arthur resting in the hospital bed next to him. "I’m gonna keep my promise big brother." He said quietly.

"Umm hello?" Nightow answered the phone.

"Yeah, tech guys. I need your help." Rasa said quickly.

"Are you two alright? We didn’t hear from you for hours. The cops are here poking around the place." He said trailing off.

"Never mind that. I need your help to do something right now." Rasa said, "I’ll deal with the cops later. Keep them out of the basement!" He said urgently.

"They are mostly interested in the huge chunks of car all over the street right now. Trying to get them removed and looking for the source. Adams is out there now closing up your gates so they can't see where it all came from. You gotta get your ass down here!" Nightow said.

"I will, soon, but I need you to go take a bowl or something and go to the side door right now. There will be some people there that were the same size as I was, at the bottom of the stair leading in. Be careful not to hurt them... oh never mind. Once they’re in the bowl shake the hell out of it." Rasa said giving an evil laugh. "No seriously, once you have them in the bowl take it downstairs to the far far back. There’s a room where we have the model and the shrinking machine. You don’t have to bring them back, don’t even try to use any machines until I get there. Just put the little bastards into the dome with all of the little trees in it. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah."

"How is my Arakawa?" He asked fiddling with the cord to the phone.

"She’s fine. She’s wandering around the house right now. I think she is having a little too much fun being small." He said amused at the thought. "We put your dogs in your bathroom to keep them out of the way. Don’t worry about that."

"Oh yeah, thank you guys so much. Tell Arakawa thanks for me, my brother is gonna live because of her. And you two! Thank you all so so much. I will try to get home as soon as possible. I just want to make sure Arthur is alright here."

"I understand. I will get to those little bastards now, I think their time is almost up. Are you sure you want to save them?"

Rasa thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, Arthur would be pissed at me if they got hurt. Just keep them in the bowl and put it in the bio-dome. There's a panel that opens up, once they are in, just shut it again. Make sure that the miniature horse and cow are out of the way first before you put the bowl down. I'm guessing the animals are not used to looking up so they might not realize they could get squashed. The assholes can live in the bio-dome for days with the miniature air. Just throw a cookie inside the bowl with them for food, they don't need to wander around that bio-dome. I should be back soon. If Arakawa has trouble breathing you can put her in the city domes. I just didn’t want the other guys in there, they'd just trash the place or we would never find them."

"Ah yeah, I understand ya. Alright, you guys take care. See you soon." Nightow said.

 

 

Eventually Rasa made it home via cab and found cops littering his yard and shinning flashlights all over the exploded limo in his driveway.

"I'm here, I'm here." He said holding up his good hand over his head. "I can explain everything."

Half of the cops at the scene were eager to get some semblance of sanity that night. Causing some mass confusion was that the garage was filled with as many questionable electronic devices as there were bullet holes in the wall. Another was the note in code that was found on his front step, the one Author had left for Rasa to not use the machine in the garage. Thankfully, no one but the brothers and lab guys could decipher it.

Adams and Nightow put Arakawa in the storage room on top of the bed to keep her safely away from the cops. Then closed and camouflaged the entryway to the lab room so the cops inside the house could not find it. The other devices around the rest of the house couldn't be rounded up and hidden fast enough so the lab guys just gave details in high tech gibberish as to what each odd machine did. Basically spouting out long equations and math theories at the cops until they were overwhelmed and just walked away.

If the police officers got too vague of a description, they thought they were hiding something, but if they were given a too detailed description, they couldn’t handle it.

“What did you say that did?” Adams asked snickering at Nightow once the cops left.

“I think I told him how to split the atom with that home made Theremin.” Nightow shrugged and laughed as well. “What a weird house.”

The sun, just under the horizon, started to lighten up the night’s sky and the stars faded and disappeared. Rasa explained to the officers that, from what he gathered from his brother, his house was in the middle of a jewel heist gone bad. (A half truth) He pointed to the destroyed limo, and then the truck and van and came up with feasible explanations for what went down. Even though he was present for some of the events, he couldn’t actually tell what all went on past Arakawa’s hands and over the debris. He gave the officers a truncated version of events.

Two thieves had broken into his garage and after they had ransacked the place, two others showed up and demanded the loot be handed over. They got into an argument at first which led to a shootout all over the estates property. Rasa said that one of them must have had some kind of bomb and threw it into the limo that his brother had parked in the driveway. Claiming he had no idea why some of the pieces of limo were larger then others.

Adams and Nightow came out of the house and joined Rasa at his side. They confirmed that they were just driving by in their car and heard the commotion. They were fired upon and took shelter in front of the house from the shooters in the back. They rescued Arthur and took him inside while Rasa was outside scaring them off with threats to call the police. He also fired on the trespassers and said that the last he heard of them was them scaling the fence and running away. Rasa and the others claimed not to know where they were headed but glad they were gone.

"My brother is unconscious at the hospital right now with a gunshot wound in his arm. My new friends here helped stop the bleeding until the paramedics could arrive. I went with and I believe that's what happened." Rasa said, and went lightheaded. Adams and Nightow thought he was faking it but Rasa didn't have to fake it that much. He really was drained of the whole ordeal. Adams put Rasa's arm around his shoulder to guide him to the front door of the house and the sun took that one chance to shine on his face.

Rasa turned aside and faced the sun full on. It peeked over his neighbor's houses and past the trees that lined their yards. He smiled peacefully at it. For the longest time he thought that he wouldn't live through the night to see another sunrise again. This one, above all others before, was the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen.

He sighed happily at it and went inside to go find his little woman.

 

 

 


	16. Tabula Rasa

C hapter Seventeen:  Tabula Rasa

 

 

_Tabula Rasa:_

_1\. The mind prior to all experiences_ : the mind at ones birth, regarded as having no inherent preconceptions. 

_2\. A chance to start fresh_ : an opportunity to make a clean break or a fresh start.

_3\. Blank slate_

 

O ne wonderful day, Rasa returned home from the hospital and had with him a brother in tow. Hubb came over to help with Arthur's rehabilitation, bringing with him a case of beer and a movie.

Arthur looked around the house and noticed a fair number of bird ladders placed against just about every piece of furniture. He smiled at them and went on into the kitchen to rest awhile at the table. Just going from the car to the house was tiresome. He had been bedridden for so long that his body got used to being emphatically lethargic. He wanted to travel everywhere now that he was discharged but his muscles kept tensing up as he walked. Adamantly refusing to use a wheelchair, as ‘old people use those’ and he was not old yet, he relied heavily on a cane Rasa got for him. Thought he currently looked to be twenty years older then he is now, he was determined not to act that age. He may not know exactly how old he is - due to the time fields, but he knew it wasn't  _that_ old.

Now that he is able to eat whatever he wants again and not the hospital food, he was confident to get back to his original shape. At least a 'healthier' one. Rasa thought he looked just fine, but wouldn’t keep Arthur from his delightful and decadent dishes. Rasa cooked up a hearty meal for everyone, using mainly baby corn, baby peas, minced vegetables and ramen noodles. Chopping up every individual thing into a near paste for little Arakawa. She held up her hands laughing, insisting that he cease the chopping or the next thing he would want to do was chew it up for her too. After the belts were all loosened to relax the full stomachs, a friendly conversation started up.

“So Author, how long until you get that cast off?” Hubb asked.

“Call me Arthur. I want my old name back.” He said smiling at Rasa who started to collect and wash the dishes with Arakawa drying them off on her hands and knees. “They said I can take the cast off in just over a month. Thanks to you little Miss I still have my arm!” He raised his champagne glass to Arakawa and she nodded back from her seat on the counter top.

“It will be nice to take a regular shower again, I have to wrap it up in plastic to bathe. The cane I have to keep using until I can stand up for a good amount of time without stumbling.” He rolled the spherical handle around in his right hand and let the cane rest next to his left arm. “The doctors say that I wont be able to grab things as firmly as before with my left hand though, some of the nerves running that length were damaged beyond repair. But that’s ok too.... I’ll just move on and let it go ‘cause this too shall pass.” Arthur said taking a long thoughtful sip of the wine.

Rasa hung his head for a moment and when Arakawa noticed he just smiled at her in a sad way. He whispered, “I’ll tell you later.” And smiled again, squinting and letting a tear accidentally fall. Wiping it off quickly he washed the dishes more meticulously and intensely.

“So, Hubb, how are things going for you now?” Rasa asked quickly over his shoulder without looking him in the eyes.

“Much better thanks, the money you sent, Arthur, paid off my house and other car. The limo you gave me I have to keep in the garage because all of the neighborhood kids want to ride in it!”

“Would you prefer something smaller?” Arthur asked.

“Hah, what did you have in mind? One of those little matchbox cars in the basement?” Hubb chuckled.

“Yeah, I haven’t crashed my other Porsche just yet. You’re welcome to it.” Arthur said. “You know, I’ve been meaning to simplify my life a little. I don't need a race car at my age.”

“But you are being way too generous! I can not accept it. I wouldn’t feel right getting anything else from you guys.” Hubb said holding onto Arthur’s hand. “Give it to someone that really deserves it, or can use it. Donate it.”

“That sounds like a great idea actually.” Arthur said thoughtfully. He started to stand but lost his balance. He located his cane next to his bum arm and used it to walk over to the head of the basement stairs with a determined gait.

“Art? Arthur, you can’t do stairs just yet, the Doc said to take it easy on your first day back home.” Rasa said holding onto his shoulder.

“Ras. I want to see.” he said firmly. “I want to see them for myself.

“While you were asleep I took care of everything. You already know what’s down there, I told you yesterday...”

“Rasa. Don’t keep me in the dark.” Arthur said looking up into his brother’s eyes.

“Ok... Just hang on there for a second.” Rasa said and went back to the kitchen. “Hubb, can you give us a hand?”

“Sure thing.” he said and went over to Arthur to help him down the stairs. Slowly, one at a time, resting every 5th one.

Rasa went over to the kitchen counter with a slightly pained expression in his face. Arakawa stood up and cocked her head to one side, then smiled lovingly at him. He was not used to asking for help and simply needed her support. She held out both of her arms and he gently picked her up in his hands. He brought her over to the stairs behind Hubb and Arthur, saying that he didn't want to leave her alone upstairs. This would be the first time she’d been down there in weeks. Rasa had been the one taking care of things in his brother's absence and the basement was barely tended to. It was cleaned out of his inventions they could spare but since then he limited himself to only going down there once a day for ‘feeding time’.

Arakawa held onto Rasa’s thumbs as he cradled her in his hands. She could tell it was really hard on him to go down to the lab with Arthur and needed her moral support. He felt very guilty for not being able to bring her back to normal as he was brought back. She already had to give up so much since that day and he did not feel right to keep things from her. He was going to share himself and his life with her, because she shared everything with him. Not at all forced or pressured, she wanted to share. They were in this together.

He was no longer proud of his past and was sweating and trembling slightly as they got closer to the lab. Rasa wanted to show her that old side of him in the hopes that she can forgive him that which he could not forgive himself.

Arakawa stroked his thumbs with her gentle hands and smiled encouragingly up at him. The four made their way to the lab, opened up the door and moved things further aside so Arthur could easily walk over to the model. Arthur rested his hands on the outside domes of the cities. He gazed down the city streets as Rasa nervously explained what they all did while he was at the hospital. Simply being in the room again with his brother brought back so many painful memories that he wished he'd had stayed upstairs.

Arthur saw the perimeter cage the rats were in and smiled at the little hungry patrolling animals. Just waiting for the miniature figures to move within delectable reach. Better then the big guard dogs that the neighbors had, who refused to come to their aide when he needed it most that night. Arthur was happy to hear that Rasa had given their own two dogs names, and nice dog houses out back. Einstein and Copernicus were currently sleeping on the back porch.

Arthur gazed down the streets of Vela, then moved over to Argo. Rasa noticed his grip tighten on the head of his cane as he looked around the model. Mixed feelings towards the model itself and the living contents within.

"They wanted diamonds. So let's give them diamonds." Arthur said placidly. Rasa found the velvet bag that Trent had stored the collection in that hadn't been sold yet. He handed them to Arthur. The upper panels to the domes were opened and Arthur held the jewels aloft over the cities.

"A promise is a promise." Arthur said to the 4 citizens below, and let it rain meteorite sized gems all over the cities. Causing near destruction of some houses and putting dents in the ground below. "Enjoy." He said and shut the panels himself. He leaned up against the domes and gave a very peace filled sigh at the near emptied lab.

"You can sell my stuff too. I like your idea of going Au-natural." He said to Rasa. Arthur then grinned at little Arakawa who was being held tenderly in Rasa's hands. "I swear to you, I will get you back to normal little lady." He put a kind finger under her chin and looked her in the eyes. "You really are as beautiful as he's been saying." He patted her head gently smiling.

He gave Rasa a dutiful look, and punched him swiftly in the shoulder just before staggering back to the stairs to rest in the living room. Work would have to wait, he was still very weak, and now his right hand hurt from Rasa’s bony shoulder.

Hubb assisted Arthur upstairs, and Rasa could hear them talk about something through the air vents in the other part of the basement. Rasa sat down in the leather chair and let Arakawa down onto the desktop.

"Well, I think that went well..." he sighed to her, wiping off his forehead of sweat. "Neither of us kidnapped the other." he said giving a hollow laugh.

"I know it's not an easy thing to deal with. I mean, I can imagine. You don't have to feel bad for keeping those assholes in your model. I know that you both want nothing more then to leave it all, I can see it in your eyes Ras. At the same time I think we need to wait awhile before making a final decision on their futures." Arakawa said motioning to the two fake cities. "I don't think that letting them loose again will make them change their lives around. They had a chance to start over and they chose revenge. All of the other people, the ‘Reas’ you called them? They took the offer and moved on, not everyone wants to move on. There's nothing you can do about that." She said sitting down on a copy of 'The Tale of Two Cities' and fiddled with her dress a bit. “I don’t want them to hurt anyone else, especially not you.”

"Thank you Hun. It's good to know that there's someone out there that understands that this is not easy. I mean, who am I to decide these guy’s fate? I thought I knew it all, I was convinced that I was right and Arthur was wrong. I was such an idiot. It nearly took both of our lives, over and over again. This stupid argument. I don't want to be right if it means loosing him."

Rasa pulled down a reference photo that Arthur had up on the board for the miniature house he had built for Rasa. The photo was of the whole family in front of the house in winter. Arthur had young Rasa on his shoulders and was so happy. His mom and dad were behind the two kids, standing next to a lopsided snowman as they were all covered in patches of snow from a snowball fight moments before. Rasa did not remember that day, or even remember seeing the photo. He looked to be about 4 years old which would have made Arthur 9. He vowed to spend more time together with his brother. At the same time he knew that Arthur probably wanted some solitude.

"I don't know what to do Arakawa." he leaned way forward and rested his upset head on a thick journal next to hers. Glancing over to her sympathetic face.

"No one does Ras. We will all just have to start over. Forget the old garbage and troubles and become fresh and clean blank slates." She said scooting over to pull away his stray hairs that fell in front of his eyes. She stood up, walked over and put her gentle hands on the angled bridge of his nose. She then pushed herself upwards from it to gain height and kissed the top of his forehead while standing on her tip toes. "This will be our year. We dug a hole but maybe, this time, the fix is in progress already. Like, by admitting faults, owning up to them and doing what can be done, we can heal our wounds."

"Honey, you are my little savior. I want you so bad I can't breath!" Rasa said smiling.

"Come on, they're probably waiting for us upstairs." She backed up, beaming with love and braced herself for the big kiss he placed on her head, then chest, picking her up to kiss her knees and finally nibbled on her toes greedily as she laughed with delight.

Arthur and Hubb sat back watching 'Oliver's Army' on the big ass television, television that was too loud for little ears. Hubb turned down the volume and was very mindful not to get too loud around Arakawa who arrived via Rasa. He set her down on top of the coffee table in front of Arthur and Hubb on the couch. He then went to brew up some fresh coffee for everyone.

Arakawa gave a contented sigh up at the two men who almost bowed for the lady entering the room. She cracked an amused grin and reclined on a very nice doll couch that was placed in the center of the coffee table. Wiping off her feet on her dress, much to the confusion of the others, the lovecats kept their secrets.

The backpack that Arthur made for Rasa with the built in microphone and speaker was sitting next to the couch and Arthur was happy that it was now used as a kind of small walkie talkie. She could communicate with Rasa anywhere in the house with it.

Arthur mentioned the bird ladders throughout the house, getting to the tops of dressers, desks, tables, and possibly even back from Kathmandu where little Arakawa might want to go. Arthur was saying that it was a great idea and why didn‘t they think of that before. Climbing ropes wasn’t her idea of fun, so the ladders were introduced because they were easier for her to use. If she so desired, she'd move them to new places she wanted to go. She insisted on not relying so heavily on Rasa to be there for her every minute, even though he always was. Needing/getting were the same in Rasa's mind when it came to her. Pampering her endlessly because it's tough to have a crush at his age and her size.

"Turn it up guys! I like it loud!" She said turning around in her princess pink couch to talk to the boys on their sofa directly behind her.

"Yes ma'am." Hubb said and turned the volume up a pinch. "I didn't think you would like noises." Hubb said.

"Oh, lately it's so quiet around here. Ras thinks I'm gonna go deaf, but I can take whatever you got."

“So um where did you get your cloths? They look a little too long for you.” Arthur said adjusting the cast over his shoulder and arm to rest on one of the throw pillows.

“Malibu Betty cloths. I don’t have legs that long so I had to hem up the bottoms of most of the pants and dresses. It feels so weird to dress up this nice when I’m just lounging around the house.” She said waving the ends of the dress around. She got up and turned her lightweight couch to be at an angle to speak to the guys easier. “Rasa is such a perv though, always getting me the skimpy Malibu Betty cloths to wear. I was surprised they even make them for young girls dolls, and here Rasa is supposed to be a mature adult and he'd be at the kids store ogling the pink corsets. Can you believe that?” She laughed.

Arthur just gave a look at his younger brother. “Yeah, that's not out of his character. But your figure fills out the dresses quite nicely. You might want to take some back with you if you go.” Arthur assumed she wanted to leave as soon as possible. He believed there weren't many people out there that wanted the brother's company, getting very depressed at the idea of being seen as the bad guys. He was sad to think of her leaving, Rasa was noticeably alert and euphorically lit up every time she spoke.

“Oh I’m not going anywhere. I like it here too much. You guys are my kind of people!” She exclaimed.

Arthur gave a relieved smile at her as she was telling the truth. It gave him a peace of mind to hear that she thought so highly of them, enough to want to stick around for awhile. Even his 7 old friends from the model stopped coming by, only Hubb was there for him.

She patted the back of her couch to get their attention after awhile. "Rasa and I were joking around earlier today, he said we should go as King Kong and the beauty for Halloween! Wouldn't that be a riot? He wants to be the beauty!" She laughed and said, "My old work buddies, Adams and Nightow said they would supply the little planes flying through the air like in the big finale."

"I think I could go as a mummy with as many wrappings I have now, don't you think Rasa?" Arthur said holding up his shoulder cast and bandages around his wrists. "Hopefully I wont have to use my cane by then, I plan on doing some dancing. Might look like I'm having a fit but I want to have some fun. ahem. May I have the first dance milady?" Arthur said holding out a gentleman's hand to her and bowing his head.

"I'd love to." She said with her most debutante voice holding onto Arthur’s index finger. She laughed as she spun around his finger tip in her little dress, making it billow around her. "Oh! Shit! Movies back on. Turn it up Hubb!" She said and flopped back down on her little pink couch.

The movie came back blaringly loud from commercial and they got comfortable in their seats while they watched.

Rasa was in the kitchen, just sitting at the table listening to the three in the living room, sipping his coffee from a new thermos, as he swore off coffee cups from here on out. He also threw out all of the containers of Tic-tacs, and cookies from the cupboards and pretty much everything else he encountered when he was small. He meant it when he said he wanted to start fresh.

He looked out back at all of the work that needed to be done, to clear away the rest of the damage that scarred the property. He slipped away to go outside unnoticed by the others in the living room, laughing out loud at the movie. He wandered around the back yard and gathered together as many broken things to the curb as he could carry. The dogs following his every move and barking excitedly at him. He then grabbed a shovel and pounded the dirt and grass back into the ground where it was shot upwards from the rounds that Steven and Arlene fired during their drive by.

Gazing around at the estate’s land he frowned at all of the hideous traps that they littered their own yards with to keep intruders out, like the bear traps and cannons, the barbed wire and simply everything that looked evil. If anything, to passersby, it would point out that these guys have something very valuable that they want to keep. Giving the opposite results that they intended. Besides all of that, they looked wrong. It was not the brother’s style. Rasa was already looking at the potential in the property to make it pretty, trimming the gardens and shrubs. Spend time on real living things and ignore all of those fake ones hidden away in the basement. They spent so much time working away in the lab that they forgot to go outside once in awhile. They were locking themselves away and eventually locking up others in a subconscious attempt at filling in the self inflicted loneliness.

Not anymore. They did not need to kidnap people to be around them. They knew that they needed to work on the relationships with others and learn to give and take. For so long they saw others as always wanting to take away, that they never thought that they could willingly give too.

Arakawa showed him unabashed love and support. She saw in them what she could have easily become. At the Lab, when she first saw Rasa spilt out of that little bottle, she wanted him. Not  _him_ , but the scientific discovery that he was. She did not see him as a person at first and simply wanted to own him. So she understood in part, what the brothers were doing with the real people in the model. They needed humans for their experiments, and justified kidnapping as something necessary and even right. Thinking that if those trespassers were there only out of greed and envy then society would not miss them and actually be better off without them in it.

Rasa saw things a little clearer now. Eventually, he would release the 4 in the model back into the world. But they would not be awarded anything, no generous bribes or gifts that Arthur had given the others to keep them quiet about the brother’s affairs. Those 4 people were willing to murder for more wealth. Rasa planned to have a long discussion with Arthur about the 4 in the model later. For now, there was a lot of healing that needed to be done.

Rasa planned on calling up a construction crew to repair the damage to the roof from the short lived fire from the explosion. The gaping holes in the sides of the house from limo debris and bullets were temporarily covered up with thick plastic. The garage was near trashed but they had to keep it exactly the way it was until Arthur becomes strong enough to repair the machine and get Arakawa back to normal.

Rasa walked over and made sure that the deadbolts on the garage door were still secure. He wanted very badly to return her to her natural size as it was a constant reminder to him that he and Arthur had sinned. He did not like the idea of her being so fragile and delicate, as her personality was just about anything but. That alone could get her into trouble, trying to take on things that are simply too big for her to handle.

In that respect, he loved her all the more, as they were alike in their self confidence and determination to do it themselves. But his was nearly to the point of bullheadedness. Arakawa helped Rasa see himself and recognize when he needs to take a step back and accept someone else's help once in awhile.

He would then say that in order to accept her help, she would have to be able to take on anything he could, and it would be pretty tough to do if she's only 7 inches tall.

Arakawa insisted there was no big hurry and was getting used to her new height. She loved seeing the world in a whole new light, it invigorated her. Both Tubris brothers thought she must be nuts and were perfectly happy with being as they are now. Neither wanted to be miniaturized ever again. Arthur least of all, and he was done with wanting to be in control all the time. The constant struggle to take complete control over everything had almost killed him and his brother several times. He decided it was best to let someone else lead. Wondering who that someone would be.

Arthur looked out of the living room window at the yard, grinning happily as he watched Rasa playing fetch with the dogs for awhile and enjoyed the beautiful day out.

Rasa was making mental notes on what to fix first on the estate. If the grounds should be relieved of all of the metal death traps now or later. To change the whole appearance of the property to a more 'Decadent Townhouse' magazine cover, or to keep it in the style of 'Demented Jailhouse' with slightly fewer trebuchets.

He would miss those trebuchets... but alas...

It was now his turn to take care of things.

 

 

 

 


	17. Loose Ends

C hapter Sixteen:  Loose Ends

 

 

 

A full week went by with Arthur still lying unconscious at the hospital. Rasa made frequent trips out there to spend as much time as possible by his brother's side. Talking to him even though he had yet to wake up. Adams and Nightow returned to Biminy laboratories with schematics and prototypes of the different things that Rasa had worked on over his lifetime.

Rasa gave it up freely. He was sick and tired of looking at the metal and mechanical devices and machines and decided to work with things that are real, living and green from now on. He did not however get rid of any of Arthur's things or inventions. They weren't his to give. But what Rasa had was plenty, and Biminy laboratories was never the same again.

Mr. Biminy had bought a miniature human, paying 500,000 over the phone for him and he was upset that he did not see his purchase for a number of days. He liked and admired all of the new technologies that were recently donated but was still demanding to know what happened to the miniature human specimen.

Rasa went over with Adams and Nightow to the laboratory with a square-ish boxlike thing covered up with a white silk sheet. Rasa was helped into the room and set it down roughly onto the same table that he was put on only a week prior.

"Voila." He said pulling off the sheet and displaying a plant filled terrarium and a tiny figure running naked around in it. Looking in all respects to be a model replica of prehistoric times, complete with ape-man.

"The mini plants in this terrarium will help it breath but you should give it this green stuff every twenty hours as you work on it. Call me if it becomes a nuisance." Rasa said hitting the top of the small terrarium with a fist. Making it send deafening shock waves all throughout the inside. He handed over a big jar of green goop with instructions on how to deliver it to the small human. "Jab it in there real deep." He said smirking.

"Rasa! Get me out of here you bastard!" The figure shouted at the clear plastic lid, unheard by anyone in the room.

The others were busy with the new paperwork and instructions on how to build and use a miniaturization machine and the spatial force field, temporal displacement machine and diagrams on how to make their own bio-dome. The different machines at the brother’s house were built into the walls and could not be removed. The same went with the fake cities, Argo and Vela. They were simply too big and complex to be removed from the basement so they stayed behind. Minus some of the removable buildings to give Biminy laboratories a head start on making their own model.

"We'll keep in touch." Rasa said patting Adams and Nightow on the back.

In private they gave him a rather expensive cigar case and thanked him for all that he'd done. He gave it back, and reassured them that simply meeting little Miss was enough, and said he would take good care of Arakawa for them.

Mr. Biminy was previously informed that she decided to quit and she would not return there again. She wouldn't, but not out of hatred for the place, she actually loved working there. But she never had to work again because she was with Rasa now. Doing the scientific experiments became a pleasant stress-free hobby now, instead of the way Mr. Biminy had run his business. Results were demanded on time without fail. All of the things that used to be arduous tasks were now made simple. With Rasa at her side, they could work together on whatever with no time limit and no pressure. Even the thought of that kind of freedom was like heaven to her.

Rasa guarded the miniaturization machine in the garage with his life. Until Arthur was well enough and able to return home and help fix the machine, Arakawa had to stay in that little form. Rasa did not want to mess with the machine at all, and didn't know what Arthur did to make it work like a gun. Even if he did know, the more then precise calculations it would take to get Arakawa back to her full size were near dizzying. Even for someone as smart as Rasa. The way she was shrunk halfway meant that they would have to do numerous tests on other things that were her  _exact_ dimensions and weight the moment she went down.

The settings on both machines were adjusted to shrink everything to the exact same scale. So it was easier to bring them back to their correct normal size. They had never done anything like what happened to Arakawa, where she simply fell past the waves to an incomplete shrinking process. The machine finished its full miniaturization task and telling it otherwise was the hard part. It assumed that it was supposed to shrink that section of limo that she fell behind. Her atoms are now mingling with that part of the limo as well as the rest of the atoms inside the machines’ storage unit.

Like blindly pouring water into a lake, there was no way to tell how much water to pull back out, or what individual drops were the original drops of water. Once it is combined with the lake, it is next to impossible to separate it again. When the process runs normally and is uninterrupted, the original water droplets are in a kind of virtual water-balloon. That water is protected and can not be mixed in with the lake, and is easier to retrieve and send back. When the brothers re-assign atoms to be used as base material for other things, the virtual water-balloon is popped and can be used for whatever they need it for that is similar in composition.

Say, Rasa was somehow able to finish shrinking her down to around an inch in height to be brought back to her full original size. As soon as all of the removed atoms and energy information were joined together in the blue box's storage unit, it was theoretically possible. The machine should recognize the full human body’s makeup and not see it as a random string of base materials. The tricky part is that the machine would have to know enough not to make her one seventieth her current height of 7.24 inches. If that were to happen, she would become a mere 0.103 inches tall, less then a couple of millimeters. Most likely, she couldn't live long enough to be brought back to any size.

Needless to say, Rasa did not want to mess with the machine until Arthur was well enough to help work on it.

The machine in the garage was originally intended to remain secured in place and the objects were kept still underneath it. Inanimate objects usually don't move on their own so it was easy to shrink them. The animals were temporarily tranquilized to keep them from leaving the waves. The brothers simply didn't have any need to miniaturize things half way. So Arakawa was stuck at 7.24 inches tall, until the machine could be altered and fine tuned to bring her back to her full normal size and not a single inch (or foot) taller or shorter.

Arakawa actually liked being small for the most part. The world seemed new and exciting. Rasa and Arakawa worked with their dogs to get them to see her as a master and not a chew toy. She was hesitant about the whole thing but the two dogs seemed to be getting used to the idea. At least they learned that she was off limits for play time and they more or less ignored her.

The dogs were kept as outside only guard dogs while the horse and cow had to remain miniature in the bio-dome until they too could be changed back to normal. Rasa didn't want the animals to mingle with the riff raff in the cities and the horse and cow didn't seem to mind the never ending buffet of delicious greens.

Arakawa was able to stay outside without the bio-dome's air for a lot longer then the inch tall figures because her lungs were 7 times larger. Still, she had to rest in a tall Plexiglas terrarium that Rasa built for her with two mini-redwoods replanted in it. She would usually just nap in it for about an hour a day to purge and cleanse her system. Finding it really easy and nearly euphorically high to breath in the micro-air. Her rescue inhaler had to be modified too, because she still had minor asthma. Rasa was kept busy just trying to make her life easier, as she had to remain at the house until she was normal again.

Four people are now the only residents of the fake cities under the domes.

Two per city so they wouldn't fight or kill each other. Separated by a long clear piece of Plexiglas that extended from the city streets below to within four inches at the top of the dome, so air could still circulate but the miniature humans could not hope to climb up and over. Everything that was of value was taken out before they could get to it and destroy it out of petty revenge. The vehicles were removed first as they were the easiest to get to and pretty valuable. Placed in a compartmented large crate, along side the nicer mini-houses and the majority of the expensive electronics they could donate to charities. Leaving the bare minimum of things behind for the few residents to mess around with. Arakawa helped in the search along side the remote controlled robot around the cities. She had a blast walking down the city streets, reciting lines from a certain old movie. Pretending  _she_ was the 50 ft woman attacking the city. Even though she would never attack anything and the city was uninhabited at the time...

Steven and Arlene were sent to Argo, the larger city because they hadn't in fact premeditated murdering anyone. They did however put plenty of people in mortal danger in their lust for jewels. Shooting Arthur and blindly opening fire on anyone that got in their way. They were cloned the next morning after the incident and the copies were sent back home with the money they had gotten from selling Rasa. The phone conversations between Arlene and her father Tom had to be confirmed and established for the smooth transition to take effect. Arlene said they got 500 K, so the clones were sent to their home with that much money. The clones also 'confirmed' that Rasa and Arthur were safe and home again with no problems whatsoever.

Shauna and William were sent to live in Vela. It was still partially destroyed and burnt from the mob that went after Arthur a little over 2 weeks ago. The damage that they had inflicted on the model looking for miniature Rasa remained as well. There was no point in Rasa's mind to fix their bullet holes in the mini buildings or the massive wreckage from their fists punching and smashing the small fragile buildings. They now had to live with the damage they had done. They were not cloned again because sending more murderers out in the world would be irresponsible.

The four were fed whatever leftovers Rasa and Arakawa had that day for breakfast or lunch. Scraped off of the plates onto the open streets of the cities.

The two rats were now caged in a very long perimeter around both cities. Should the miniature people try to escape, they would have to make it past the two rats that patrolled the borders of the cities, just outside of the domes. The four people were too scared to even look at the rats that scurried as big as living semi's past the outskirts of town. So they stayed in the middle of the cities for the most part.

Trent however, being the start of all of the problems, had been taken in Rasa's place to Biminy Laboratories, where he would pay for his crimes. The cops had found the body of Dominic inside a large plastic bag, he was the man Trent shot in the brother’s house. The body was placed inside of his old truck's cargo hold and the bullet matched his handgun that was left inside the house with his prints all over it. There was a manhunt out for Trent's arrest and a reward for anyone that had information where he was.

Thankfully, Mr. Biminy did not watch the news very often, and all of the events' stories that night died down quickly because of no new leads and other more important news stories to report on.

Shauna and William were already ‘dead’ because the clones had been killed and buried a month ago. No one was looking for them or Steven and Arlene because their clones arrived home safe and sound the next morning. Tom and Paul, the old guys from the diner, received an anonymous winning lottery ticket for an obscure drawing that only Rasa knew of. It was for half of the amount that was supposed to be awarded them for their assistance. Even though they did not bring Rasa back themselves, they fully intended to, and couldn’t be blamed for Steven and Arlene’s actions. Outside of the diner, the third limo was left for Josephine, who calmed Rasa’s mind and gave him clarity of heart by listening to him when he needed a friend.

Trent was the only one of interest for the authorities, and it appeared that he vanished without a trace. His truck and Shauna’s van were taken in as evidence, as they were filled with unlicensed weapons, ammunition, and supplies needed for burying a body. The authorities also had found the gems that they had stolen from the jewelers for Arthur to enlarge. The theft was also put square on Trent’s shoulders and if he wasn’t currently residing in a terrarium at Biminy Laboratories, he would likely be spending it in a small prison cell for a lifetime.

 

 

 


	18. Inebriated Eureka

C hapter Eighteen:  Inebriated Eureka

 

 

 

F our months would pass and the small family lived in relative peace thanks to the weekly bribe Rasa offered a few police officers to keep their affairs a secret. Giving a guarantee that what they had done and were going to do had nothing to do with breaking any major laws.

Of course it was a bald face lie, but the cops took the money and gave their word that their house would remain off the radar provided there would be no more explosions. Rasa kept those deals from Arthur's attention because he was preoccupied with a much more important matter.

Working nearly non-stop for months on trying to figure out a way to get Arakawa back to her normal size. Theory after theory thrown out the window with building frustration. Arthur was not the one to give up easily even though Arakawa herself told him that she was now perfectly used to being her current height of just over 7 inches tall.

What she didn't know is that Arthur heard her some nights, talking to Rasa about how nice it would be to simply sleep in the same bed together. Without worrying about an accidental crushing death. Rasa had purchased a king size bed and she slept on one side on top of a rather decadent foam pillow while he was sequestered to the other side of the bed behind a built-in stiff foam wall, so he wouldn't roll over too far in his sleep. It worked for awhile but it wasn't the same as being able to spoon up and cuddle.

Rasa and Arakawa had been dating for awhile but never got past second base and Arthur could tell it was wearing on both of them. Their closeness was palpable but the distance between them was immeasurable. Neither wanted to tell Arthur how stressful it was because Arthur was already beating himself up over that one split second decision months ago when he shot at her with the machine, thinking she was one of the 'bad guys'.

He remembered that flash of light better then she did and it haunted him most nights over time. Loosing sleep every night and the stress of it all made him go a little crazy. He was prescribed different medications to help him deal with it. Convinced the pills weren't enough to calm him down, he took up drinking in secret. Just one glass or two of wine a night where before he only had a bottle a year.

One night, so close to a solution he could taste it, he ran out of his mild wine and went to find out what Rasa had in his liquor cabinet.

 

 

"Rasa! Rasa wake up!" Arakawa shouted into his ear.

"Mmmmrrf?" he muttered and rolled over, nearly on top of her. She did a quick step back, expecting him to move.

"Rasa... damn-it wake up! Something’s going on outside. Your brother is gone, I can't find him and there’s some loud noises going on out there. Rasa.... wake up!"

The whole house shook and trembled.

"What’s going on?" Rasa said sitting up bleary eyed.

"That’s what I want to know! I'm not supposed to go outside by myself remember?" She said walking over to his knee and giving it an encouraging shove. "Get up and go check it out."

"You're so damned hot when you're bossy." He said tickling her side. She gave him a humorless look and moved his finger over to point his attention outside the window.

Another tremor and the sound of both of the dogs barking like mad outside. Oddly enough, one sounded louder then the other. Windows broke elsewhere in the house with the vibrations.

"Come on out Rasa!" Arthur's voice boomed from the back yard.

"What's he doing outside at this hour?" Rasa said checking his clock. “The sun is just now coming up.” He got up, put Arakawa on the dresser as he got out some warm cloths. The whole house jerked violently to one side sending him off of his feet. He managed to catch Arakawa in mid air before colliding with the floor himself. The foundations for the house nearly buckled and the wooden walls creaked and moaned.

"Are you alright?" Rasa asked as he made sure she wasn't harmed and put her gently into a clean laundry basket to keep her stable and safe. "What the hell is he doing?"

"I don't know but whatever it is - it's big." She said motioning to the bedroom windows that kept being covered by an enormous shadow.

"We're on the second floor." She said nervously.

Rasa quickly put on his cloths and shoes and brought down the basket with Arakawa to the first floor entryway.

"I don’t want you stuck in here if the house falls down. But I don’t know what’s going on outside either... shit..." he whispered to her, picking her up out of the basket and looking for safe ground amid the broken glass and split boards.

"Then take me with you. I’m always safest with you." she said hugging his hand.

"Ok...just, umm, run to safety if there’s any trouble. I will find you later ok? I promise." he said kissing her head as the house shook again. He held her in his left hand close to his chest and reached for the doorknob with growing tension.

He opened the side door and peered out. The front yard seemed to have had some odd landscaping done, the flower bush was now 10 feet tall, and the daffodils were now 3 inches tall. "What the..." he said as he stepped out of the house facing left down the driveway to the street, holding Arakawa closer still for her protection.

From behind him to the right, he heard an ominous click.

" _Good Morning_ !" Arthur said boisterously from the garage area and shot a bright beam of light at Rasa's back the second he was full in view.

"Shit!" Rasa shouted and dived back into the house, he tucked in Arakawa who grew in his hands and had to put her down next to himself. Rasa was left dazed and tingling as he heard Arthur’s booming voice outside.

"I gotcha Ras! Tag!" Arthur slurred almost giddily.

"He’s drunk! What the hell is he doing drinking?" Rasa muttered as he laid flat on his back looking up.

He heard some interesting noises coming from his left side where his girlfriend was but was too puzzled to pay attention. He looked up at the ceiling trying to figure out why his brother had been drinking so early. Arakawa placed her hands on his shoulders and made him sit upright. She smiled levelly at him. Face to face.

"What? Oh wow! He fixed you!" he said happily kissing and hugging his same sized girlfriend.

"No... he didn’t." Her smile waned a little and shrugged as she motioned at the now huge entryway they sat in. "You’re now little like me, about 8 inches tall."

"What? Oh no... no no he wasn’t supposed to mess with that machine until he was all better!" Rasa said standing up and walking to the huge door.

Arakawa stood next to him with a hand on his shoulder, peering out towards the garage.

"Come on out Rasa and Arakawa! Don’t worry, I'm not gonna get you again." Arthur said laughing.

Rasa held his breath as he took a few brave steps out of the door, and slid down to the first step looking over to the garage. There, Arthur stood, 26 feet tall next to it.

"My God. Arthur, what have you done?" Rasa said silently, taking the next step down to the ground.

" _Arthur_ , you're not supposed to make any living thing bigger then its natural state... You know that! What if you blew up?" Rasa shouted walking over to Arthur's foot.

A rather large bottle of whiskey was leaning up against the garage, nearly 10 feet tall. Arthur put the miniaturization machine down to take a long pull on the bottle, spilling some all around the driveway and then found a bucket to pour some out for Rasa.

"Arthur... listen closely."

"Mmmm? Can't hear you down there, come on over, I'm not gonna bite." He said crouching down, holding out his huge left hand with the poor grip. It would be several more months of physical training to get the fingers to move independently again since that bullet damaged the left shoulder.

Rasa didn't want anything to do with that unstable hand. He heard something behind him and Arakawa was walking very cautiously over to him and held onto his arm looking way up to Arthur. She thought that this must be what it felt like to be truly miniature, as the others had been. Rasa was apparently used to this difference in size and she marveled at how easy it was for him to talk to such a colossal human as equals.

She leaned in close to Rasa's ear and whispered, "What is he doing?"

"He's... drunk... he never gets drunk because he can't handle it. On top of that he's on meds. You should really go back to the house." he patted her back to urge her along.

"Ara! Come on over! I'll pull up another chair for you." Arthur said and brought over a few lawn chairs for them to sit in.

"Where are the dogs?" Rasa shouted. He could hear them barking but at the moment he couldn't see them.

"Oh, they're around here somewhere." Arthur said looking over the garage and fence line to the neighbor's yards.

Rasa kept an eye on his inebriated brother and whistled for them to come. Copernicus ran over first and was over twice Rasa's height, but 3/4th of his natural.

"He got you too huh boy." Rasa reached up and pet the front legs of the nervous and frightened dog. "Where's Einstein boy?"

The mixed chocolate Lab seemed to be even more frightened to hear that name and a very loud booming bark startled everyone as it came closer.

Arthur jerked his head up and dropped the liquor bucket, quickly shuffling over to the side driveway just in time to hold back the enormous dog. Keeping it from accidentally crushing the small people on the ground.

"Holy shit!" Rasa shouted looking straight up to the 20 foot tall Shepherd/Lab with the over enthusiastic paws slamming the ground all around them. Rasa grabbed Arakawa's arm and pulled her straight back to the house. Copernicus followed closely behind and cowered as Einstein sat down in the driveway, wagging his tail and knocking the flower bush to the ground.

"What the hell is he thinking? He's gonna kill us all!" Rasa said bringing Arakawa deep into the house. Copernicus whined for them to get back further still.

Outside they could hear Arthur bring the big dog to the backyard. Splashing noises could be heard and Rasa assumed it was Ein pawing at the pool water then apparently lapping it up. Arthur made the dog lay down and every step either one made shook the house and everything inside. After only a moment, they could hear all of their neighbors slam car doors and speed off down the streets.

"At least  _they'll_ be safe far away from here." Rasa said as he saw the cars drive away from his vantage point in the doorway.

"What about us? Why is Arthur doing all this?" she asked gripping his hand.

"I think it's because he wanted to help you so badly. Maybe the problem was too big for him to solve and he started drinking... I don't know."

A loud hand slap on the ground startled them and they saw Arthur's head lower sideways to look through the doorway, searching around for them. "There you are, come on out, it's safe." He said pushing the side door all the way open with a finger.

"Arthur... umm, maybe you should take a little nap." Rasa swallowed hard, nervously looking up. "Clear your head a bit."

"No." Arthur's eyebrows lowered and his head lifted from view. They could hear him shuffle around outside and saw his foot pass by the door and then with a deafening thump he sat down cross legged just outside of the house. He poked his hand in through the door frame, grabbing the handle edge and maneuvered it to tear the tall door off its hinges and pulled it outside with him. Setting it up like a ramp from the doorway to the driveway. He gestured to it for Rasa to use.

"Are you hiding in there, little little brother. Like a little little mouse in the house." He chuckled and put down a couple of gallon buckets of whiskey. He patted the ground with a huge hand and leaned over sideways to look inside the house. He had a light grin on his face.

"Honey, I think he's gone mad." Arakawa whispered.

Rasa watched his brother for a minute, with every breath he took, his mind seemed to be floating. "No, it's because he's so big, the air he's breathing is smaller for his lungs and it's like how you feel in your bio-dome. The oxygen is absorbed a lot faster and it makes you a little high. Course the liquor and medication cocktail doesn't help matters much either."

"Come out here guys, surely I'm not all that scary. I want to show you what I've been doing."

Rasa did not want to know. From what they've seen so far, it was like a mad house. "Stay here with Copernicus. He can protect you better then I can." Rasa said to her, he patted his jeans for the dogs attention and it sat next to them. It was whining pitifully because it didn't understand what was going on, and it sensed that his masters didn't know either.

"Coper, keep her safe, ok? Stay." He said ruffling the dogs coat. It laid down next to her and wuffed at him.

"Damn it." Rasa said looking at the ground and went outside, down the door-ramp to stand in front of Arthur.

"There you are!" Arthur said and held out his hand for Rasa to hop on.

"Don't think that's a good idea Art." Rasa shook his head at the unstable digits.

"Well, fine." Arthur said testily. "I had a surprise for you but now I don't think you'll enjoy it. Seems your not in the mood for good luck."

"Arthur, you're drunk. You're a twenty some foot tall drunk genius."

"Twenty six." Arthur asserted taking a sip of the bucket of liquor.

"You have to tell me what you did so I can fix it before the cops come again. Do you even know how much money it took to get them to leave us alone? Ever since the limo fiasco?"

"How much."

"Arthur, just..., tell me what happened." He said loudly, but not trying to sound like he was yelling accusations.

Arthur took a breath and leaned up against the fence which creaked at him and threatened to break under the weight. "4 months Rasa. I've been working on her problem for over 4 months. I told you last night that I was close but you said to wait. Wait for what? Don't you want her back to normal?"

"Of course I do, but blowing up Einstein and yourself doesn't help her out at all."

With a great deal of effort to enunciate while inebriate, Arthur said, "I had to test out my theory from last night first. I went down to the lab and brought up the box of cars and junk from the cities and put them in the garage. I started to re-enlarge all of the cars one by one but they wouldn't all fit on our property. So I had a little nip of your Johnson's Finest Whiskey.. thank you by the way." he gave a toast. "So because we didn't have room for 50 some cars here, I thought about getting someone to take the cars far away and dump them or whatever." He said taking another long swig of liquor. Some splashed down his button up shirt and he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Offering it again to Rasa.

"No thanks." he shouted upwards. "Then what happened."

"I had another hair o' the Johnson's dog, then decided to use the dogs to take the cars away. A sort of 'reverse fetching'."

"Why did you need to get the cars back to normal anyway?"

"What? I told you yesterday why. Once all the original stuff is out of the machine then all that's left is her stuff." He said trying to look at both Rasas. Then picking the one on the left to talk to. "Problem is, once Einstein was made suitable size I had to tell him where to take the cars. But Ein wouldn't listen to a little human when he's so frickin big. So it's obvious that I had to make myself big too." Arthur said leaning forward. "Copernicus didn't like being tall at allll. Kept howling until I shrunk him again. I'm surprised he didn't wake you guys up. Where is Copernicus? "

"He's inside with Arakawa."

"Why doesn't she want to come out?" he frowned at him.

"She's... just getting breakfast." Rasa said turning around and making sure she was still ok deep inside the hallway.

"Oh, tell her I'd like some scrambled eggs. Please." Arthur leaned over to look inside the doorway.

"I will, so, after you and Einstein were bigger, you took the cars where exactly?"

"The gorge."

"The gorge? The one two miles away?!" Rasa said bewildered. "You mean to tell me that you and Ein took 50 cars to the gorge and dumped them in? What if someone saw you?" Rasa was extremely angry at his brother's lack of caution.

"Don't worry, we did it at midnight. Only a bunch of drunk teens saw us coming back for more cars and I think I actually did some good, they wont be out carousing anymore!" Arthur said laughing. He stretched out a leg past Rasa and rested it against the house. Leaving a muddy smear on the siding.

"Arthur, Arthur, your footprints! You probably left some big ass footprints all the way there and back! Damn.  _Damn it_ Arthur!" Rasa paced back and forth. "Do you even know what you've done?"

"Yeah, I got rid of the evidence Ein covered them up with dirt like a big pile of bones so no one can see them. I had to put some trees in the way too to keep hikers from taking the same pathway. And you know what? That wasn't easy! I'm doing all this work for her!" Arthur said getting mad at being yelled at.

Rasa cursed himself for getting this giant upset now. "I know, I know Brother, you're doing a good job." He said trying to sound comforting, taking a few steps closer to Arthur's knee. "You have to think this through.... Wait, where is Einstein anyway?" He said looking to the empty backyard.

"Well shit." Arthur said, whistling for the dog.

"How do you loose a 20 foot tall dog!"

Einstein came bounding back again over the fence and nearly stepped on Rasa.

Arthur had only a second to scoop up Rasa in his right hand and pull him in close to his chest as the dog walked all over and around Arthur, waiting to play again.

Arthur ordered the dog to sit, and so it did, right on top of Rasa's prize jeep.

"Damn it Ein!" Rasa shouted from over Arthur’s thumb.

"Arthur, make him smaller right now!"

Arthur pouted at Rasa, dropped him inside his thick shirt pocket and dragged the dog to the backyard again by his collar. "Sit down boy, Rasa says you are too big." Arthur pulled out the machine, picking it up in one hand and carefully turned it on with the other, making Einstein shrink down to the same three quarters size as Copernicus.

"Is that right? Does he look a little smaller to you?"

"I can't see them Art." Rasa muttered rubbing his temples. Frustrated as hell.

"Hmm... close enough." Arthur said shrugging at the dogs. He watched them interact for a few minutes. Copernicus went back inside the doorway to guard Arakawa again. Einstein was just happy to be fairly normal again and ran around the familiar yard.

"So, anyway.... where did you go?"

"Oh my frickin lord.... Arthur! You put me in your shirt pocket you moron."

"Aahhhhh there you are." He said smiling, the stench of the liquor on his breath made Rasa want to gag.

"Arthur, you need to sleep it off. No, wait... damn it Arthur! There is so much shit I've got to fix and it's pretty hard to do that when you made me only  _8 inches tall_ . Why did you do that?"

Arthur almost started to tear up with emotion and stared off into the distance beyond their neighborhood. "It was like a bad joke. Even though you spent all of your time together, you couldn't even feel each others' presence. The gentle caress of her hands doesn't even fully register on your skin. And your kind strokes on her body might as well be pushes and shoves. But you still love each other with a tenderness that is so real and forgiving." Arthur looked off to the house where Arakawa was peering out. "I've been watching you and her, you longed to be together, to _be_ _together_. But your different sizes kept you tragically apart. Just because I haven’t found that kind of love doesn’t mean I should keep you from it."

Rasa was actually touched. But it still didn’t fix the problem of getting her back to normal. "Lean over and put your hand out so I can get out of here." Rasa said.

Arthur leaned way forward and Rasa was able to jump from the floppy pocket onto the fingers of the drunk giant. Hastily climbing off before he was accidentally dropped.

"Ok.. so first things first. Triage. Coper and Ein are now 2 feet tall at the shoulder, Arakawa and I are 7 and 8 inches, you are 26  _feet_ ... anything else I should know about?" Rasa looked up, getting irritated again at the scope of the mess.

"Yeah, the four assholes."

"What about them?"

"They’re in the garage."

"Why.... are they in the garage." Rasa said looking over.

"They are the surprise."

Rasa sighed heavily. "Let's go. I think we have a few minutes before the army shows up at our door so let's make it quick. Rasa jogged over to the garage, politely dismissing Arthur’s offer to just carry him the distance. Arthur gets a little clingy when inebriated and Rasa was just too fragile to risk it.

Inside the garage there were four upright table stands with the four people strapped to them in 7 point restraints. They almost looked like torture tables upended but they were not injured. As soon as they saw little Rasa they all tried to call out to him for help but their mouths were gagged and duct taped over top Each combined set of table and person were different sizes. Shauna was 2 foot tall, William 4, Steven was just over 8 foot tall and finally Arlene was 5 foot 6.

Arthur got down on his hands and knees outside of the garage and looked in. "I think I figured out how to get Arakawa back to normal. It just takes _a lot_ of practice first." Arthur said waving a hand to the 4 people strapped down.

"I thought you said you were going to remove everything from the machine first before you 'empty' the rest into Arakawa. Her stored matter in energy form would be the only thing left in the blue box storage unit."

"Yeah, that was the first plan. But when I went down to get more of the mini-stuff we shrank with this machine, I forgot what all we did. The trees, the cars of course, the horse and cow are out of the machine and probably in the neighbors yard right now," he leaned over the fence to see where they wandered off to.

"They’re completely back to normal. The trees are over there." Arthur said and pointed to the far back part of the grounds where five redwoods were broken up to kindling all along the back wall. All of the other greenery from the bio-dome was starting to wilt in a huge pile that collapsed part of the fence. There was nothing but wilderness beyond their back yard so it wasn’t going to be spotted right away. He suddenly remembered that he forgot the two mini trees in Arakawa's personal bio-dome to help her cleanse her lungs for a hour a day.

"I think big Ein scared the horse and cow, oh sorry, Mr. Ed and Mrs. O'Leary." He remembered Arakawa insisted they have names. Arthur then addressed the little dog digging into the redwoods. "Einstein, inside. Now." he boomed.

The dog whimpered at being yelled at and high tailed it inside the house, nearly knocking over Arakawa who stood at the doorway, watching them. Copernicus wanted to follow too but had been ordered to stay put and guard her.

"Hey, Arthur. Just a thought but umm, hows about we get you back down to a manageable size too huh? What do ya say?" Rasa said looking up with a cheesy grin to get his vote.

Arthur sat down again on the backyard grass and depressed more yard in the shapes of his knees then butt with his shoe heels plowing the grass in the shapes of commas.

"Yeah, I suppose you’re right." Arthur said nodding. "I think I put my setting at 5ft 4. That’s how tall I am. No... wait. I want to be a little taller."

"Art, you can be as tall as you want, just under 6 feet is all I ask."

"I’d be two inches taller then you at 6 feet."

"You have to remember it would be proportionally, your head would be bigger too, everything, it's not like you just get stretched out."

"Yeah, I suppose you’re right. How about this. We both get to be the same height."

"Deal, just tell me how to work this thing now. You changed the hell out of this miniaturization machine. Is that an arcade toggle stick up there?" Rasa said walking around the big metal box. He was not used to being that odd height, but at the same time, because he was empathetic to what Arakawa had been going through for the past 4 months, it made it easier to cope. Seeing the world through her eyes helped his current situation as his mind was more prepared for it then if he was a size they hadn't been yet.

Arthur took a long pull on the bottle of whiskey and again offered Rasa some, forgetting this was like the 5th time.

"I think one drunkard in the family is enough don’t you?"

"You make it sound like I drink all the time." Arthur said in almost a growl. He leaned too far over Rasa who was afraid his huge brother would loose either his temper or balance.

"N-Not at all. I know you’re under a lot of stress. I forgive you."

"You forgive me?! That’s a laugh." Arthur said belligerently. A memory popped in his head of Rasa's past sins and brought up that very hot topic. "Who was it that wanted to sell  _my_ people for their own gain? Hmm?" Arthur punched the ground and it sent shock waves all around.

"I'm sorry! Sorry, I said I was sorry back then, I shouldn’t have said that. Now please, forgive me. We can forgive each other. Be equals again, Okay?" Rasa said taking a few steps back from the unstable giant. He even glanced behind himself to plan out an escape route.

Arthur gave a thoughtful grimace at him and nodded. "Okay." he said calming down. "I want you to promise that you wont do that thing."

"Yes I promise, whatever it is, I promise." Rasa said taking a step towards the machine. "I promise everything."

"Well... okay then."

Before Arthur moved again Rasa flipped the switches on the machine and shrunk him back down to a more normal size. He wasn’t sure how tall Arthur was now, but at least he wasn’t peeking over the roofs.

"Ok, now, crap... I think you’re more or less normal now but you’re way too... indisposed to take care of Arakawa and me. Not to mention the garage full of freaks." Rasa walked over to the line up who still preferred his help over Arthur. He could tell it in their eyes, they trusted the little guy more, even though it was Rasa with the short temper. At least Rasa was sober.

"What a day." he sighed heavily.

Meanwhile, Arthur was leaning drastically to one side, sitting in the shallow, double bowl impression on the lawn. He slid off balance and fell over flat on his back with head turned to the right. Rasa heard the thump and smiled when he saw that his brother was finally sleeping it off.

Convinced that there was strength in numbers, Arakawa took a few hesitant steps out of the house and walked with Copernicus over to the garage where she figured Rasa would be. Stepping cautiously the whole way, looking around for something else to jump out at them.

"Is it over?" she asked timidly.

Rasa spun around and walked over to her. With growing excitement he smiled wide and then passionately hugged and kissed her all over. Fingers danced all up and down her perfect little body. "Ohh Honey, my Darlin, my Sweetness, my Love, Life and Lady. I love you so very much. I've wanted to do this for  _ages_ ." He said picking her up with both arms and kissing her again and again, everywhere he could get his eager lips.

"Honey, you’ve picked me up thousands of times."

"Yeah but it's so much  _better_ now. Ohh I love the way you feel." He said, not being able to keep his hands off of her. "I love everything about you, I can actually  _feel_ you now."

"I love you too Honey." She giggled between kisses, blushing bright red. She returned the affection until she felt lightheaded with euphoric bliss. Completely ready to consummate their union right then and there on the cement floor.

A polite clearing of the throat came from behind her and she whipped around and gasped at the line of people that were watching them.

"Oh my!" she said straightening out her shirt and holding Rasa at arms length as if 'dad' just caught them macking. "Rasa, what happened?" She said backing up from them. "Why would he do that to them?"

Rasa sighed disappointedly at them. As if it were their fault for being tied up in the garage and interrupting his long awaited make out session. He stroked her shoulders but it was apparent that the moment was spoiled, so he tried to explain the situation to her as she requested. He promised to share everything and not keep secrets when she asked any question. "Arthur did that because he was trying to see if he could bring you back manually. Like, dial in the controls by hand instead of programming it. With Arlene over there he got it dead on. I don’t know what will happen to the rest." he said.

The other three captives were pissed off that Rasa didn’t know how to help them and they pulled and jerked on their restraints. Muffled growls could be heard from past the gags and duct tape.

"Guys, guys chill. Just because I don’t know how doesn’t mean that Arthur can't do it. Calm down, there’s nothing I can do at this size anyway." Rasa said walking past the four upright tables. Leading Arakawa out of the garage a ways.

She whispered in his ear, "Are you sure? I mean we all saw you bring Arthur back."

"Yeah but, that was a fluke, I'm not sure if I can do it again. Besides, if I make them all normal sized and let them go then we would be at their mercy. Do you think they’re gonna be nice to us?" He whispered back. "Arthur tried releasing two of them before and they came back with guns ready to  _murder us_ remember? Arlene and Steven over there, shit, they are even more bloodthirsty because they wanted to kill us over money they weren’t even sure we had!" Rasa said to her.

He was still angry that Arlene and Steven had sold him to a laboratory. They didn't know that the people who worked there would be gentle with him. It could have easily been populated with scalpel happy surgeons chomping at the bit to dissect his little body. Bottom line was, none of those people had any regard for human life and now that both Rasa and Arakawa were little, even if they weren't murdered right away out of revenge, they could still be captured and sold as specimens to a different lab. As far as giving Trent to Mr. Biminy goes, they had no choice. Biminy bought a miniature man, and if he did not get to keep his purchase, he was powerful enough to make all of them, including the ones they love, disappear. Arakawa knew this, so she was the one that helped Rasa decide which one of the three miniature men to send away. Trent was a proven murderer. The others, they could not be so sure that they had killed in the past, so Trent was the one on the top of their list to send away in Rasa's stead.

Rasa walked over to the machine and stood in front of it for a long time. Arakawa held up her hands to the others for them to wait and be patient.

"Let's talk to them, see what we can agree on." she suggested.

"As I recall, you told me that it was unlikely they would change for the better. I know it's not the same now that they are out of the model. The plants that used to keep them alive are all unearthed and wilting, piled up over there, but, their minds are probably set." Rasa said sighing at the mess. "Go ahead and talk to them if you want, but I’m telling you, the minute we untie them they will kill us, or if not that harsh, they might just try again to sell us to someone else. It's a horrible feeling... to be sold to strangers. Become someone's property, someone's toy. I'm very lucky that you guys were kind to me." he said giving her a loving look.

He saw the guilty look in her eyes and said, "In either case, we are certainly not strong enough to take them on in a fight. You can discuss and plan all you like just don’t let them get a hold of you." Rasa said over his shoulder, resting his arms on the cable for the big machine.

Arakawa stood there for a moment. She felt that these 4 people had learned their lesson and wanted Rasa to see what she saw in their eyes. "Are you gonna help me?"

Rasa breathed heavily. "Yes. But... urgh...I showed you that side of my life for you to understand. You even agreed with me that people are not forgiving. They will always hold a grudge."

"Hubb didn’t." she said.

"Hubb... is a good man, yes. But most people aren’t so forgiving. These are  _not_ good people." He said pointing up to them. "The only reason you're not as mad at us as these people are, is because for some reason... you like us. Even though we ruined your whole life by miniaturizing you and keeping you full time at our house.. virtually under lock and key! Even I don't get it..."

"I love you. I chose to stay here." she said.

"Yeah but it's not exactly like you had a lot of options... let's say you  _didn't_ like being small, and you were kept here by force... If you had wanted to kill me and Arthur like these guys certainly do, well, I can't say that you wouldn't be strapped down there yourself. Think about how that would make you feel. Like planning swift bloody revenge right?" Rasa said walking over to hold her hands.

Arakawa shifted her weight at him. She would never wish either of them any harm over an accident.

"I know you are a good person. You're way better then everyone here, especially me. I'm not saying forgiveness is bad, far from it... but you have to be smart about this. I want nothing more then for your safety and well being."

She stared hard in his eyes and looked way up to the faces. "We have to try." she whispered to him and being cautiously optimistic, she walked back to the garage.

Shauna was the only one even close to their height but still, was 3 times as tall as them. They only came up to her knee. Arakawa brought over a box and a few other things to climb up to it with Rasa’s help, and stood determined and resolute in front of 2 ft Shauna.

"I’m going to take the gag off of you. Promise you wont scream? If you do it goes right back on and we will shrink you down to nothing." Arakawa said firmly.

Shauna eyed her with contempt and breathed heavily through her nose. She nodded as best she could and the gag was loosened.

"Let me go." Shauna ordered.

"Talk to us first." Arakawa said trying to be gentle.

"What’s there to talk about? You sold my beloved Trent to your boss, what's to stop you from doing that to us? Let me go find my love. You cannot deny me my revenge on that 'Mr. Biminy'. You can't keep us here forever!"

"I can and will if you guys don't cooperate." Arakawa said back, looking at the rest.

"It's hopeless Arakawa. She doesn't want revenge only on Biminy, she wants to take it out on us first. So we don't get in the way. She’s not going to play nice. Not like you are nice..." Rasa said standing behind her. He rubbed her shoulders and nuzzled her neck again, loving every minute with her.

"Rasa, please." Arakawa said pushing his hand off of her shoulder. Rasa was inadvertently ticking Shauna off even more by parading around their unhindered love.

He held up his hands and reluctantly took a step back but not too far to be out of reach for her rescue.

"Shauna. We know that you’ve had a difficult time lately. This may be your last chance to go back home. Show me that you are going to behave and do what we say."

"Screw you." Shauna spat at her. "I hope you  _all die_ ."

"There’s your answer Arakawa. Just tie her up again." Rasa said handing her the gag. Rasa had to use all of his strength to restrain her head while Arakawa tied the gag back up over her mouth. The whole time Shauna tried to whip it back off again and bite whatever hand came too close. She even screamed but the neighbors had all fled over an hour ago.

“She wont play ball.” Rasa said frowning at Shauna.

"That doesn’t mean that the rest are unwilling to cooperate." Arakawa said with clear sympathy in her voice.

The others were all shifting around and mumbling for attention. Nodding enthusiastically.

"Wait, see? Maybe they do." Arakawa said. "Do you guys want to go home? Steven and Arlene, you have kids that need raising. William, you have your sister to look out for. Shauna... If you want Trent bad enough, I guess... you can be with him there, we can make you mini again and give you to Mr. Biminy. There's no way we can get Trent back from him. I'm sorry but we have nothing to do with what Mr. Biminy decides to do with his property. He's way too powerful for us, in every way. The rest of you though, you don't want to waste time on petty revenge right?"

The others nodded and kept trying to motion for them to get closer.

"Arakawa, damn it, they just want to get loose to hurt us! You can't let them leave."

"You don’t want them to go?"

"Of course I do, but it doesn't matter what I want. Urgh... I’m trying to save your life, Arthur’s and mine. These guys already tried to murder Arthur and me on  _numerous_ occasions! You don't know what it's like to have people hunt you down in the hopes of killing you slowly! How exactly do you propose we safely let them loose?"

"Well I don’t know..." she said getting irritated with him. "You're the genius boy."

He didn't like where the conversation was going, and felt like he was being attacked. "Your soft heart might get us all killed." he said trying to stay composed. He could feel his temperature rising and needed to keep his anger in check before saying something even worse.

Arakawa was familiar with Rasa's temper and eased off of him, he was under a lot of stress right now and needed someone to listen as well as give ideas. It was clear he only wanted her's and Arthur's safety, so he couldn't be faulted for sticking with what he knows works.

Arakawa had an idea, "Maybe we could drop them off in the desert. By the time they get to a city we can be long gone."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's perfect. We drop them off in the Great Salt Lake Desert. We can have our stuff all packed up and ready to move before we do, so they can never find us again. It'll be perfect. We drop off the radar." She said to Rasa then turned to the others. "It's your lives, what do you want. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in the model? Or go free. Asking you to promise never to hunt us down is a moot point I guess..." she said thinking it over. "We would have to go deep into hiding."

Rasa looked over to Arthur. "Honey, come with me for a minute." He stroked her shoulders with his fingertips.

"Sure. You guys talk it over." she said behind her.

The others could only communicate with hand gestures, mumbling grunts and facial movements but the conversation was going fairly well considering.

Rasa and Arakawa walked over to the slumbering form of Arthur on the lawn. They sat down next to him, far enough away so a random arm thrash in his sleep wouldn’t hit them.

"I know you think it's a good idea to let them loose, trust me, I want them gone as well. But we can't be hasty about this." he said holding her hand in his.

Just then a couple of cop cars drove by the property, speeding down the street. Rasa’s heart raced. "Damn it, I have to call and bribe the guys at the police station again. Send the rest of the cops off our trail. How much money do we have left?"

"Umm, I don’t know, like a couple mil?" She said looking towards the house. "If you sell the house we'd have a few more million. Would that be enough?"

"I don’t know. I wish I had more time..." Rasa said sitting down next to Arthur, pulling at the long grass in the yard that came up past their shoulders. "Last time it took 6 million bucks to bribe them into ignoring the whole fiasco here. And even then, it wasn’t this big of a mess... Arthur’s footprints are everywhere from here to the gorge two miles away. Five times bigger then normal... would anyone think it was Bigfoot?"

"Heh, then we would have even more people out here looking for the Sasquatch." she said sighing.

"What we need is some help." Rasa said. He kicked at Arthur's hand. Arthur mumbled a little but was nowhere near waking up.

"Gonna have to call up the boys again. Are they still working at Biminy?"

"Far as I know, they are still working on their own shrinking machine." Arakawa said. "I actually hope they don’t get it to work now. Nothing good ever comes from it."

Rasa looked even more depressed and she bit her lip for saying that. "Still, just because we fell along the way doesn’t mean they will. Let's call them up and see if they’re available." she said brightly.

"You call them, ask them to bring a big moving truck. I'm going to be in the garage getting rid of as much evidence as I can."

"Not the people!"

"No, I meant the machines we couldn’t get to work, the 10 foot tall whiskey bottle Arthur’s got leaning up against the garage. Don’t worry, go call them up." He said giving her one more kiss on her lips. "You know, you taste so wonderful." He said smiling. "Like strawberries and hope all in one."

She blushed at him and kissed him back even harder before going inside.

The dogs took some time to get used to their 3/4th sizes but made their way outside again to see where their masters were. Einstein went to find the horse and cow again while Copernicus found Rasa trying to shove the machine to the left just a little bit more to get the bottle in range.

"Come here boy, ok, see what I'm doing? Push." He said looking up to the dogs head and tried to get Copernicus to help him move it. Copernicus just panted happily at him and gave a huge wet lick all over his little body. "No! Bad dog. Sit." he said trying to sound authoritative, wiping off the slick drool from his cloths.

Copernicus just whined and licked him again, bowling Rasa over onto his back and practically laying down on top of him. "Coper! I said no! I'm not a toy!!" He said scooting back from in between the dogs front paws. The dog bumped his feet with its nose and lifted both hind legs up and gave the play position, rarping cheerfully at him.

"Jez, you’re acting like  _I’m_ a puppy. No, I don’t want your red ball." he said pushing it aside. "If you go sit over there, I promise that I will get you a nice female to go mate with and you can have all the puppies you want with her. It'd have to be a different breed, but I don’t think you care as much as we do about size." He said ruffling the dogs thick fur coat over his head. "Go lay down."

The dog looked down at him, almost pouting. He took only four steps away and laid down there, not in his dog house as usual. Occasionally Copernicus would give a warning growl at the 4 people in the garage as they tried to get him to come over and bite off the restraints.

“Don’t bother, he’s my dog.” Rasa shouted over his shoulder to the others. “Coper, watch them.” He ordered and the dog dutifully walked over and stood snarling at the four people. Rasa gave a pleased smile and said, “See?”

“Ras, they're on their way. They are bringing a truck that we used to use at Biminy for transporting their prototype 'Bessy'.

“Bessy? What is that?”

“Oh uhmm, nothing. Just something they were working on. Probably wont even work. So what's going on?”

“Trying to move this thing, lend me a hand?”

“Anything sweetheart. I know you need my impressive muscular physique to help you with this itty bitty machine.” she taunted.

“Itty bitty? It weighs like a thousand pounds!” Rasa said pushing up against it with his body, “Itty bitty...” he muttered and with her help was able to shift it over to face the bottle.

“Ok, the dogs clear? You have Ein with you?”

“No, I thought he was with you?”

"That danged dog. Why can't he be more like Copernicus?" Rasa whistled for the dog and it somehow was able to round up and bring Mr. Ed over on its own. The horse trampled all around the yard and Rasa and Arakawa had to duck behind the machine to avoid being stepped on. It bowed its enormous head over the machine and smelled them hiding there. They looked straight up and saw its huge nostrils blow currents of hot moist air at them. It messed up their hair and unnerved them terribly, but thankfully it did not harm them. Giving a shrill whinny and chuff at them the horse recognized their scents and thought nothing of them, believing that the two were just a couple of rags with his owners scent on them. Eventually it brought its long curious head back around and it walked casually over to go smell Arthur.

“Oh God.“ she said taking several deep breaths, peeking past the machine at the huge hooves. The horse was careful not to step on Arthur's slumbering body. Opting instead for eating some of the grass at his feet. “What is my horse doing out here? I thought Mr. Ed was still in the bio-dome.”

“Arthur brought him back along with Mrs. O'Leary Cow. They wouldn't be able to live in the bio-dome without the trees and plants. He wanted to bring back everything we shrunk using this machine so that your matter information and molecules would be the only thing left in its memory storage unit.”

She cocked her head and held out her hand. “So why...”

“Because he couldn’t remember what all we used this one on. If he emptied the rest of the molecules from the storage unit with you in front of the wave and say, a car was still left un-enlarged....” Rasa grimaced at the thought.

“Oh... oh right.... yeah. Kaboom.” She said sliding down the side of the machine. “Real-life transformer huh.”

“Not as pretty.” he said quietly. "Not only that but there were other things that were shrunk and then eaten by people. Those molecules have no 'home' to go back to. The water for the river, the trees and plants decompose over time, so what he was working on for a long while is to umm, how do I put this... reassign the surplus molecules that have no owner to something new. To make sure yours were the only ones left. He needed to figure out what we could use extra molecules for, to get them out of the way. Like sleeping beauty over there no doubt used up a lot of the water molecules for his and Einstein's big bodies and the biological matter from plants for filling in the cells. 'You are what you eat' and basically everything biological can become our bodies. The problem is, I mean, the reason why it's so dangerous to enlarge living things, or any thing, past a certain point is that there may not be enough molecules stored in the machine for the filler."

Rasa looked over to Arthur. "Matter stretched too far  _will_ explode. Violently. He could have died. I think he was falsely confident because we've been doing something similar for a long time. We started reassigning molecules early on when we wanted to make the jewels bigger so they would not be lightweight and 'hollow'. We had to shrink a lot of base material, like coal for carbon, for the extra atoms and molecules to be switched over to the bigger diamonds." He said. "At least the horse and cow got back their original molecules. Their shrinking and enlarging process went as planned because they weren't done half way. They are damned lucky. Course now we have to worry about being stepped on by them."

He looked over to Einstein sitting next to his rounded up horse, and snapped his fingers for the dog to get closer. Einstein's tongue was hanging out and in a triumphant way as he trotted over and sat down in front of his little masters.

“Bad dog.” Rasa said sternly.

“Don’t scold him! He was just trying to help.” She said and patted his furry leg. “You're a good boy. Now take that horsey over there ok?” She said sweetly.

The dog cocked his head at her and brought its nose closer and snuffed at them.

“Take it - over there.” She said and pointed to the horse then the downed redwoods against the fence. Pouting, Einstein unwillingly walked back to Mr. Ed and barked at the horse until it moved over to the huge pile of plants.

“Oh crap, here comes the cow. I swear it loves that horse like they were mates for life.” Rasa said watching Mrs. O'Leary walk right past Arthur and across the yard, following thehorse to the banquet.

They felt safe enough to continue getting rid of the evidence. The bottle was shrunk back to normal and he was pleased that it was its original size, not an inch taller or shorter. With Arakawa's help they tipped over the buckets of liquor into the grass because they didn't want Arthur to be tempted when he wakes up with a hangover.

“Ok, so what now?” He said looking around the garage and yards for other things that needed to be demolished. The condemning paraphernalia inside the house would have to wait.

“Someone's here!” she shouted and they both went to hide in the garage.

 

 

 


	19. What to do, What to do

C hapter Nineteen:  What to do, What to do

 

 

 

T he front gate, that was now only hanging on by a loose hinge, was pushed open and a big white van pulled up into the driveway. Rasa and Arakawa stayed behind the machine and waited with bated breath to see who it was that had come at this juncture in their craptastic day. The van kept on going slowly up the winding driveway until it parked behind Rasa's recently sat on and crushed jeep.

Adams and Nightow got out of the van and started for the house. They pointed at the jeep and their voices could only faintly be heard talking about it.

“You told them we're both little, right?” Rasa said.

“Oh umm.. no.”

They both ran towards the techs as they were walking up the pathway and was able to get their attention before loosing them in the spread out estate house.

“Hey there, long time no...... what the hell happened to you?” Adams said kneeling down to Rasa.

“Long story guys. Thanks for coming on such short notice. Arthur’s in the backyard, passed out on the lawn. He got terribly drunk and started going nuts with our machine in the garage, making everything bigger except me.” Rasa said annoyed. “Arthur said he wanted Arakawa and I to be the same size because in his inebriated mind, she could never be returned to normal so for us to be together, I had to be as small as she is.”

“I think it's romantic.” she said hugging him.

“I think he’s drunk.” Rasa said pointing to his slumbering form in the back yard. “Well, come on, the cops are gonna get here sooner or later so we have to get our crap together. If you come with me Adams, help me out in the garage, Nightow you can go with Arakawa, and pack up the important stuff, we can get going.” Rasa said up to the two men.

Adams and Nightow just looked at each other and shrugged. They didn’t expect to be brought into another mess so soon after the ripples from the first died down. But silently agreed that Rasa had already paid them tenfold for their help.

“Ras, Honey, what did you want from the house?” she called over.

“Oh umm, first pack up the working machines and your stuff. I should be done with these guys by the time we get to Arthur's stuff and mine. We can have Nightow drive my truck with our personal belongings. It's in the new garage we built on the other side of the property.” Rasa said. "Too bad Arthur didn't keep one of the Argo city busses from the model after making it big again. Could have really used the storage..."

"What happened to the busses?"

"Arthur re-enlarged them and then with Einstein he dumped all of the vehicles from the model into a deep gorge that's two miles away from here."

"Just him and the dog?"

"Yeah, well, he was 26 ft tall and Ein 20. Still had to make a numerous trips. That's why the yards are so messed up. Big damned footprints everywhere..." Rasa grumbled. "At least the machine is fairly easier to use now. I'm just too little to move it.

Adams helped him aim the machine at 8 ft tall Steven and through some trial and error, got him to be more or less his original size. Just 2 inches shorter. Keeping them all still tied down, they would make the whole table change sizes along with the people so they wouldn't have to untie them. The other two, Shauna and William were easier to bring back closer to natural, but never quite right as Rasa never knew how tall they were to begin with. Either they were an inch tall or he was. Rasa sort of got the hang of the toggle switch and red button. Arlene was already good to go, because Arthur didn't have to practice with her as he already practiced on the others.

"You guys are probably pretty hungry, it's past 1 already. We can get you something to eat in a minute." Rasa said up to the 4 people. They clearly liked him a lot more now that they were being shown some kindness, being returned to normal rather then simply shrunk and put back in storage.

Sirens blared down the street again and a patrol car pulled over in front of the house. Giving a short series of blips with the siren.

“I think that's our guy on the inside. We have to go talk to him.” Rasa said up to Adams.

“We? I think I should do the talking, does he know what you guys do here?” he waved at hand at Rasa's meek size.

“Not entirely, but I think, if it's the same guy, with the right amount of money he will get the other cops off our trail long enough to let us escape."

“How do you want to do this?”

The siren blipped again a couple more times, almost sounding irritated.

“Damn it. Ok, pick me up and take me over to the front pathway.” Rasa said holding out his arms.

Adams did so and put Rasa down close to the end of the colorful pathway leading up to the house. Rasa looked over and could almost see the cop car from where he stood. “If he has short brown hair and black sunglasses and a mustache go tell him to wait for a minute, I will have his goods in just a moment. If it's someone else, umm, 'you no speaky de Ingrish'.”

Adams smiled and went over to the police car as Rasa dug strenuously at the stones in the pathway. He pulled up a few and frowned at them being made of glass and not crystal. He searched around the walkway and finally found a real one, kicking down the plants and tugging at one corner of the 3 inch boulder stone, he only managed to budge it.

Adams came over and knelt down next to Rasa.

“He is waiting for you. So, what are you doing?”

“This, is a big ass sapphire. I almost forgot we had these here. Dust it off and hand it over to him. Tell him that it is real, lab created not stolen, and he can have two more if the others leave us alone for at least the rest of the day.” Rasa said wiping his dirty hands off on his pants.

“You guys have these just laying around your yard?!” Adams gawked.

“Yeah, well, when you have the machine it's too tempting not to do stupid stunts like this.” Rasa shrugged. He motioned for Adams to hand over the stone and then looked over to make sure it was all kosher.

The cop car pulled away and drove down the street again.

Rasa smiled up at Adams and they went back to the garage to pack up the machine and its huge storage unit.

“If we can't get ourselves back to normal today, we will have to bring it all with us and try elsewhere. For now, let's feed these guys before we get them in the back of the van. Do you think you can tie them to each other so we don't have to cart the tables as well?” Rasa said looking up at the four full sized people.

“Maybe. We will need Nightow's help on this. Is there anyone else you can call for backup?”

“Well... not really.” Rasa thought about their allies. “Oh, Hubb. That's right, Arthur's friend Hubb can help I think. But, I don't know his number.”

“Is it written down somewhere?”

“Arthur knows it, I'm gonna go try to wake him up. Can you see how Arakawa and Nightow are doing?”

“Yeah.”

Rasa ran up to Arthur who was laying on his back with his head turned drastically to the left side. Rasa shouted at him, “Wake up Arthur! Wakey wakeeeyy! Time for school!” He then pulled on his shirt to help climb up Arthur’s limp arm. This was a new experience for him but took a note from Arakawa's guidebook on 'how to walk all over people, literally'.

With feet splayed on the curved surface, he held his arms out at the ready for any shifts in muscle movement. He walked pigeon toed up Arthur's arm to his shoulders then from his neck he stepped onto the jaw with careful precision. Arthur's head was facing far left so Rasa had to be sure footed. Being about 45, Arthur had some loose skin here and there and Rasa had to navigate the bone structure instead of trusting every flat surface of skin.

Rasa stayed close to the hairline and bowed down next to his ear, shouting directly into it. “Arthur! Wake up! It's an earthquake!” and stomped and jumped on the side of his face with little to no response.

Arthur's cheek twitched and Rasa lost his balance and grabbed a hold of his ear to keep him steady on top.

Kneeling down around the big ear Rasa sighed heavily and said, “You asked for it.” as he stuck his hand deep inside Arthur's ear and with a very reluctant movement, he wiggled his fingers inside the waxy canal.

Arthur shot upright and almost slapped Rasa's body against his head. Luckily Rasa completely lost his grip when he was nearly flung off and fell down to the right side as Arthur sat up.

Landing flat out on the grass, Rasa got the wind knocked out of him. He coughed and rolled over, and proceeded to wipe off his smelly arm all over the blades of grass and dry dirt trying to get the sticky earwax off. “Yuck yuck ewwwa... frickin-A this is nasty!” he said. "Ever hear of q-tips!"

Arthur just sat there cocking his head down to the side, sticking his pinky finger in his ear trying to dislodge the imaginary insect that crawled inside. All the while his eyes twitched and his tongue kept licking itself. "gnaahgh naahgick."

“You awake now?” Rasa shouted upwards, now wiping his hands off on the ends of Arthur's shirt. “Good, ‘cause you have work to do.”

Arthur put his right hand back down onto the grass... lifting it again he turned his head and looked under his arm at Rasa. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Don't even start with me Art.” Rasa pointed up at him. “ _You_ happened. Now we’re in a whole shit-load of trouble because you just had to get drunk off your ass. I told you to stay away from whiskey! You know what it does to you.” Rasa scolded.

“I couldn't find my wine.” Arthur said sleepily.

“You drank it all last week. Doesn't mean you can take from my stash. It's too potent for you.  _Obviously_ .” Rasa referred to himself as well as the Picasso yard.

Rasa intoned, "I knew you were drinking a little, pointless trying to hide it from me... I'm the one that had to buy more wine to restock the cabinet remember? A glass here and there is ok but the hard stuff is too strong. Even I only have a small shot once in awhile, it's not a mug drink Bro."

Arthur just looked blankly at Rasa and yawned.

“Don't you dare fall asleep again Arthur!” He kicked at his hand. “You have to have a clear head to bring back me and Little Miss. I still can't believe you shrunk me! You Ass!”

“I'm sorry..., why’d I do that?”

“You said it was the only way for Arakawa and I to be together. But it's not, you actually fixed the machine to bring the people back manually without going through new programs. Using that joystick thing you stuck on there instead. I understand it takes a skilled touch to bring them back. I'm guessing that by the time you got Arlene back to normal you were already sloshed off your butt with booze.” Rasa said and almost laughed. "With my luck you probably even forgot how you did it."

Adams walked out of the side door with a box full of stuff from the house, headed for Rasa's blue truck.

“Why are they here?” Arthur said looking at Nightow now coming out and loading up more things.

“Your little midnight jaunt to the gorge left a trail of shoe print destruction behind, not to mention the cars from the model you and Einstein dumped in. They're gonna trace the car titles back to our names, to the house and find us here. I paid off one of the same cops from before and bought us one day to pack up and leave before the whole of Utah's police force descends on our house. Not a question of if, but when the world shows up at our door.” Rasa said backing up far enough for Arthur to stand. "So we have to get the hell out of dodge."

"Oh ok." Arthur swayed dangerously for a little while but was conscious enough to walk over to the van and buckle himself into the passenger side. He fell right back to sleep.

“Just as well...usually it is pretty risky giving whiskey to the frisky. It's a good thing he is a more mellow drunkard then that.” Rasa smirked and went over to the machine again. Trying his hand at making the bottle of whisky 5 ft 5. Arakawa's old height. Guessing how tall the bottle was by the horizontal garage siding.

Getting closer with every slight movement of his hands on the huge knob of the joystick. Stomping on the button to start and stop and trying to find the right balance and tempo to use it was almost like doing the tango with the plastic stick half his height. He shrunk the bottle down to 7 inches. Holding his breath he noticed Adams walking back up.

“Wait. Don't come closer. I have to do this now or never.”

Adams stood still and watched as Rasa pushed the toggle forward while resting his foot on the button for two and a half seconds. Then let up again to smile at the now 5 foot 5 inch tall bottle.

“Bring her out! Bring my baby on out here!” He said joyously. While Adams went to fetch Arakawa, he shrunk and re-enlarged the bottle two more times to the right height.

“Honey! Stand right there where that bottle is. Oh sorry yeah, that is too heavy to move, hang on there Adams.” He shrunk the bottle back down to 7 inches and smiled at Arakawa. Adams removed it and placed her where it rested.

“Hold your breath Honey.” He said behind the toggle switch. "I love you." he said, blowing a kiss to her.

"I love you too." she said with implicit trust and love in her voice.

Arakawa stood still with her eyes clenched shut. Her heart raced and she felt a tingling sensation all over her body.

“When are you going to do it?” she asked with bated breath. Her hands were in fists and she trembled with anticipation.

“Darlin. Open those big beautiful eyes of yours.” Rasa said jumping off of the machine and walking over to her.

She looked up, then down and almost fell to the ground from shock. “Oh my gosh... oh my gosh!” She said with euphoric breaths. She picked Rasa up and gave him a gentle hug, ecstatically kissing him all over.

“Whoa! Whoakay Honey. Big  _beautiful_ lips there! Hold on, we can do this more properly in just a minute. I have to teach you how to use the new toggle to bring me back.”

She reluctantly put him back onto the ground and went over to hug Adams next. He grinned and said, “Welcome back.” Effervescently giddy, she just wanted to dance around with as much joy as she had flowing through her.

“Hey, guys, over here, not done yet!” Rasa whistled and waving them aside. “Now, test your hand on that whiskey bottle. Two and a half seconds. One Mississippi Two Mississippi Three Mis -  _Go_ . Okay? Three Miss - Go. I was originally 5 ft 10 but just get it close and I'm honestly cool with whatever." he grinned up at her. "I trust you without end love of mine."

Arakawa knelt down to the machine and put a loving finger to his back, stroking him gently. He moved her finger over to the machine and couldn't wait to join her as soon as possible. She practiced her hand at making the bottle shift from 7 inches, to 10 feet, to 5 inches, to 8 feet, to 7 inches again and suddenly hit the mark at just under 6 foot.

"That aught to do it Honey! That's good enough for me!" Rasa said and after the bottle was shrunk again and removed, he stood in its place with complete confidence in her abilities and watched her work. Near lustful anticipation gripped his heart and he wanted to see her wonderfully beautiful face the whole time.

Should it go awry, he needed her angelic image to be the last thing he ever saw.

"Ok go, my Love." He said gently up to her.

 

 

 

 


	20. Chapter 20

C hapter Twenty:  2 Hundred year Goodbye

 

 

 

A bright flash of light shot out from the machine and Rasa stared blindingly forward. A shiver ran all throughout his body and he hoped it was from the machines doing and not from doubt or fear. The light refused to fade even though the shiver ran its course. He rubbed his eyes over and over but the solid white image was hopelessly burned on his retina.

"Ow.. dang-it " he muttered to himself. ".. hey guys, how tall am I now?" He squinted and patted himself down, feeling the cloths and body underneath and immediately realizing that that action wouldn't give any indication at all about how tall he was. "Well I'm an idiot."

"Rasa!" she said and ran up to him, hugging the hell out of his body. He traced her form with his fingers then his hands and then with his arms he embraced her wonderfully excited and energetic figure.

"I knew you could do it Honey." He said ducking his head into her fragrant hair and nuzzling her neck. He gave a light laugh, "Maybe I should have kept my eyes shut..." he grinned, blinking at her repeatedly.

"What? Why?" She said waving her hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, I can hear you moving, I'm assuming you're waving right?" Rasa said lifting his hand out in front of him and caught hers. He rubbed her palm gently with his fingers, never ceasing his smile. "It'll heal, you fixed me baby." He said closing his eyes and breathing her in. "My little angel Arakawa." He said softly, kissing her all over again, but this time with more attention paid to her soft textures and sounds.

"Hey, Rasa... don't forget we have a job to do." A voice said to his left.

"Adams. Yes. Yes we do. Umm. Well damn." he faced where he thought Adams stood and frowned at him.

"I'll take care of everything Sweetie. You just rest here until your eyes feel better." She said and sat him down on a lawn chair. "Feels so weird to be able to do that! Move chairs so easily... I missed this." She said patting Rasa on his shoulder. "First time I'm gonna see our home... I mean,  _really see it_ , and it's the last day we have to be in it." She said looking over to the estate house. "It's kind of tragic isn't it. Our first home together and we have to leave it today."

He rubbed her hand and pressed his face against it. "It'll be ok." he said softly, not knowing if he was trying to comfort himself as well as her.

Arakawa was tearing up badly and had to leave, she strode over to the truck and removed nearly all of her things from the back end of it. No longer needing the doll cloths and furniture, nor the little things that Rasa had invented to help her out day to day. She kept a few, as a reminder of their first days dating, but knew that Arthur's and Rasa's stuff had to fit in the back of the truck as well.

She briefly considered having them move into her old apartment until something more permanent could be arranged.

Rasa had bought the building months ago to make sure her apartment landlord wasn't going to kick her out for late payments, or have someone break in while she's not there. The other tenants were generously offered housing elsewhere.

"No, we can rest there and get our affairs in order but we can't move-in there, those 4 people know my name, eventually they could find us there." She said to herself. "Was a good plan though."

"What was?"

"Oh, uh, moving into my old apartment building."

"You can move in with me for a little while." Nightow said carrying a box of circuits over to the truck.

"Oh crap. Steven and Arlene know where you work at Biminy Labs! They brought Rasa there. That means no matter where we drop them off, they will be able to get back there and get to you guys." She said with jaw dropping. "Rasa was right, even if they don't find us they can find you guys. We can't let them go free."

"What are you planning on doing with them? It's harder to keep 4 full sized hostages over inch tall freaks. Trent is still back at the lab of course, Mr. Biminy likes to keep him in his own office as a pet. It's kind of weird if you ask me." Nightow said. "Did you want to give Mr. Biminy 4 more pets?" He offered. "That would get you a million a piece, have a pretty good start for a new life."

Arakawa thought about it as they went through the house, looking for things that the brothers would want to keep. Rasa joined them at the truck. Moving his eyes back and forth rapidly.

"What are you doing?"

"I can kind of see out of the corners of my eyes but not if I keep them still. It's weird I know, also hurts a little doing it too much. So, how much more have we got?"

"You need to go through and pick out what you want from the house. We will help you carry it out of course." Nightow said holding out a guiding arm for him as they went back into the house.

"Thanks. Take me to my parent's room please Honey." he said as he faced the wall.

"Over here Ras." She giggled and took his right arm gently. "This really is a different experience for me. For a second I was looking around for the escalator you made me for the stairs. It's almost like a completely different house to me. It's a lot smaller." she laughed lightly. Together they made their way up to his parents old bedroom. Opening it slowly, Rasa could smell the stale air greet his nose. He wiped the imaginary dust from his nostrils and was led over to the bed to sit down while Arakawa offered to be his hands and eyes.

"In the dresser, should be a wooden box, left side top drawer. You don't have to open it, just put it next to me."Rasa said. He smiled as he felt it rest on the bed. He touched its smooth surface and a tear fell. Clearing his throat he said, "Ok umm, on top of the dresser is another box, with jewelry. I think mother would have liked for you to have it." He said warmly.

Arakawa looked around the dresser... then went to the vanity and desk, looking for the box. She didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't there.

He heard her faint fretful noises and said, "Something wrong Love?"

"Ras, I don't need any jewelry... umm, what else did you want from this room?"

"You didn't find the box did you." He said facing down. "I think Arthur might know where it is, before we leave I will ask him. There's still plenty that needs to be done today." He said walking over to the closet with his arms out. He felt the doors and opened them. Kneeling down he moved a few boxes of shoes out of the way and found the safe. "This thing, by today's standards is obsolete. But still," He traced the edges of its old door and smiled. "It's still intact. The combination is 13, 26, 0." He backed up so Arakawa could open it. He heard the clicks of the dial turn, turn and turn again. The telltale thunk of the metal bar being unlatched for the first time in decades almost rung in his ears.

"Hmm? What is this Rasa?" She said pulling out something.

"Honestly...., I don't know! We will find out when I get my eyes back. Mom said that Dad wanted to give it to us boys when we were old enough. When he died, I mean, when he disappeared... Mom told us we could open it whenever we wanted. Neither Arthur nor I had the nerve to open up the safe to see what was inside it. I guess..." Rasa sighed. "I guess we didn't because we had hoped that Dad could somehow return and give it to us personally."

A long moment passed as she looked inside the safe for anything else they would want. Pulling out some papers and old schematics for their fathers various airplane designs. She picked up the stuff, folding them carefully and put it all in the large folder the deed to the house came in. She looked back to the gift and studied it. "Ras, do you want to know what it looks like at least?"

"No, actually, it's better this way. Must be fate that I will be able to see it with Arthur later. Wrap it up in a coat or something and bring it down with us."

She did so with extreme care, as it looked very fragile, like it was made before the Earth was round. Before the age of enlightenment. She put it on the other side of him and said. "Anything else from this room?"

"Are there any pictures around?"

"Yes, lots. Mostly of you boys hanging up on the walls. I can look around for more albums."

"That would be great Honey." He said, really tearing up at the thought of being in this room. Besides his fetching his mother's sewing bag for Arakawa 4 months prior, neither brother had set foot in there since their mother's funeral. He figured that one of Trent's gang raided the room of the jewelry, and wondered where it was stashed. He thought about letting Shauna go free if she would just tell him where the jewelry was. One piece in particular was that important to him. That day, no one from Trent's gang had a chance to do anything with the stuff they tried to steal from the estate house. The 'loot' was found inside the front entry way of the house, proving to the police that it was a robbery gone bad. Rasa did not remember seeing the jewelry box anywhere in with that stuff though...

The rest of the packing went by quickly as Rasa had to tell himself over and over that not everything was sacred or heirlooms and he could always replace stuff later. He packed up Arthur's things himself as his eyesight cleared a bit more. Able to tell shapes and colors enough to get around, he identified things more by touch.

"Ok, I'm going back to the basement one last time, take a look around. Adams, you and Nightow got those guys in the van alright?" he shouted from the house.

"Yeah. All doped up, strapped in and ready to go. The storage unit for the machine could only fit in on its side so I hope that doesn't damage anything." Adams said wedging some soft blankets in-between the machines parts and the van walls.

"It should be fine. If you want the gems from this pathway, better dig them up now. We're leaving in an hour. The path edges are pearls, dunno if there's enough room in the back for them though... Don't forget to leave two sapphires for the cop you talked to earlier today. We promised them to him remember?" Rasa said as he put the side door back up to lean against the frame it was ripped from. "Is Arthur still asleep?"

"Like a baby for the past 5 hours. Want me to wake him up?"

"Umm yeah, hang on." Rasa said running over. He opened up the door and dragged Arthur out of his reclined passenger side seat and half walked, half carried him over to the house.

Arakawa got out of the truck to go help but he gave a meaningful look to tell her, he's got this under control. This was a brother thing.

She nodded and got the truck into position to pull out easier. The three vehicles all lined up side by side so the old colleagues could talk. Nightow had found Arthur's black Porsche, and called dibs on driving it to help transport the slightly smaller dogs who now had plenty room to sit in the backseat.

The horse and cow had to stay put in the backyard. There simply was no way for them to be brought along. There was no guarantee that there was going to be space for them where they were ultimately headed. Which still, at the moment, was undecided. A collar of sorts was put around each of their necks, asking to be placed in a good home together, along with a payment for 10 years worth of food for the gentle herbivores. They were penned up in the backyard to keep them out of trouble, and had plenty of food from the bio-dome to eat for weeks. Rasa knew that it wouldn't be but a day until they would be discovered so he didn't worry too much about them.

Rasa hoisted Arthur inside the house and dropped him off at the first chair he could get to.

"Ok Arthur. Wake up. I know I know, I asked you to sleep it off but this is important." Rasa said. He frowned at Arthur's snoring face and slapped it.

"Hummah whaa? Damn Rasa... what the hell?" Arthur said rubbing his chin. "Must have been a dream because.. Wait, no, weren't you just...?" he sized him up and looked puzzled at him.

"Yeah. Good thing Arakawa is a fast learner huh. Don't worry, she's back to normal too. We are both eternally grateful for your help." He said rousing his older brother's spirits. He looked deep into Arthur's eyes and made reserved contact for a moment. "You know I love you, Brother. You know I would do everything in my power to protect you right? And that you can trust me."

"I don't like where this is going..." he eyed him warily.

"This is me protecting you. This is me showing you how much I love you, Brother." Rasa said and sat down on the bench next to him.

"The others, Nightow, Adams and my Arakawa, they are outside right now ready to help us escape this house forever. The 4 others are out there too, they are going to be dropped off in Mexico without passports. Those a-holes will live free but safely away from us. No worries. They are all back to normal too, and you're welcome." Rasa said patting Arthur's shoulder.

Arthur looked pleased at that decision as Rasa continued, "The other thing is, well, as you know, the cities are way too big to try to remove from the model, and we can't shrink them anymore then they already are. At least, I'm pretty sure we can't... yeah, no. We would have to miniaturize the 'life support' machines at the same time so the cables and systems remain connected. Never mind." Rasa said shaking his head. "I think it would be easier if we went down there to look around one last time before deciding on what to do." he said thoughtfully, then wiggled fingers in front of his face. "I think my eyes are all better now... Don't stare at the machine while it's on."

"Well shoot, I could have told you that..."Arthur said giving a 'you're an idiot' punch, he leaned closer as if someone were listening in, "I did that too, once. Took me a full day to recoup."

They looked around the disheveled house at the things sorted and piled here and there for what to take and leave behind. "It really is the last time we will be here. This is it." Arthur said slowly standing up.

"Yeah. I'm sorry..."

Together they made their way downstairs to the lab and stood there for a few minutes, just looking around at the nearly emptied room. The only things left were the two fake cities, the time field generator, the power core underneath Argo, the emptied bio-dome, and some other machines that were just used for parts, basically junk.

"It's all my fault isn't it." Arthur said with a tear in his eye.

"No. It's thanks to you that we can finally move on. After that night, this room felt like a dungeon... just knowing that it was down here, almost like a demon waiting to claim another victim, it lurked here. You found a way for Arakawa to return to normal and I tell ya, we've never been happier. I'm amazed that you were so inventive and imaginative to use a arcade machine toggle switch to fine tune the waves. We were trying to do something impossible before, trying to program it.. It's like, trying to program a car to drive from here to the grocery store without knowing what will happen along the way. The risk of a crash or accident was almost certain." Rasa said.

Arthur just looked at him, getting glassy eyed.

"Ok, like, Arakawa did not know *exactly* how much she weighted that day, or to the micro millimeter how tall she was. And it had been over 4 months since that day anyhow. She gained muscle mass jogging everywhere, climbing ladders on a day to day basis, she even gotten a little bit taller as we all grow over time, and other factors that we have no idea exist. If all went well with the shrinking process, then the atoms in data store would have just been sent back. Your idea of doing it by hand meant that we could ignore all of the technical details in the operation and just get it done. Turn the cars steering wheel before we went too far off the road, and just like learning how to drive a car, we went a little over and under the target but we eventually got there with practice." Rasa ran his fingers through his hair and gave a grin, "More or less."

"Analogies rock." Arthur smiled and stood up next to him to see if Rasa was his original height. He wasn't. Arthur appeared only an inch shorter and smiled. "I thought you looked different."

"Little Darlin hit the button a millisecond too soon, that's all." Rasa smiled. "I can live being... what, 5ft 7?" He said trying to gauge it by the door frame. "Doesn't matter."

"Except, well... this." Arthur said and stood up straighter. He was now the taller Tubris by a solid inch.

Rasa gawked.

"Hah!" Arthur pointed and laughed. He then slouched back again as the vestiges of the whiskey hangover insisted.

It took Rasa a minute to process this, even briefly thinking of having Arakawa hit him again for a split second but then saw how happy it made Arthur and had to concede.

A moment passed as they looked at the cities, walking over to them and gazing at the streets, buildings, fake trees, and parks. The last 4 residents of those cities left a near indelible mess. The brothers were almost thankful for that. If they had been sparkling and brand new, it might have made them more reluctant to leave the cities.

"I have an idea." Arthur said quietly.

"What is it?"

"We let them have it. For the rest of time."

"Let who have it Arthur?"

"Our people." He said resting a hand on the domes. He went to the storage room and from behind a secret panel he removed the containers of Faks that he had stored in there. Hiding them from Rasa shortly after he put him in the model for his time-out. He brought the containers over and with Rasa's help, they put the little robots all over the streets and yards for the houses and recreational parks.

Arthur bit his lip and considered his next decision very carefully. He nodded to himself and then went back to the storage room again and from the small dorm room refrigerator in there, he pulled out a strong aluminum box that was hermetically sealed and locked with a combination. Without looking at Rasa, because he felt that it would just bring up uneasy memories, he unlocked the suitcase sized box and let the contents thaw a little over the room heater.

"Can you hand me the defibrillator from the first aide kit, please?" Arthur was clearly forlorn but still managed to hold it together until Rasa came back. Arthur caressed each one of the ashen figures in the box with a sad quivering finger. He put the box down on a rubber mat on the floor. The figures were removed from the aluminum and placed on a steel plate. He then put the small circular paddles on either side and gave it the absolute shortest and lowest setting on the defibrillator.

The figures seized up and almost jumped on the steel plate, then they laid still for only a moment before sitting up. They began to look blearily all about them for a few moments, at each other and themselves, as if they forgot who they were. Only looking upwards towards their creator as Arthur picked up the flat metal plate to take it over to the domes.

Rasa opened the largest panel and the plate was lowered and angled slightly to let the dozens of people slide off without injury. Arthur was unwilling to look at them for too long because he was worried he would change his mind and want to keep them forever. What drove him to complete this deed was the desire for them to live their own lives, for as long as their little hybrid bodies could hold out. This, was their world, it was not Rasa's or Arthur's world anymore. The Tubris brothers only helped it along, but now, it was up to its people to decide.

Arthur sealed up the domes for the long final hurrah as Rasa made sure the power core underneath Argo would last that long. Arthur went over to the time field controls and nodded for Rasa to keep an eye on the force field so it wouldn't collapse over the following ages. They hoped it could hold on long enough.

"On three." Arthur said gently, a tear fell from his eye.

"One" Rasa said overlooking Vela.

"Two." Arthur gazed at Argo.

"Three." They both said and a loud crack of electricity sparked around the domes surface for a split second. The two walked over to the cities to be the only witnesses of this unique civilization as it suddenly came to life once more.

The fake sun was slow to rise but then sped up quickly. It rose and set dozens of times a second and gave the impression that it was a constant dusk under the domes. Some buildings fell and were rebuilt in minutes, parks and plants grew from the few real living seeds that were carried in by the wind from the bio-dome. Several smaller breeds of trees grew tall and fell, and replaced by dozens more. Three redwoods could be seen growing slower then the others, but were soon taller and stronger then everything around. The mostly wooden skyscrapers fell and were replaced by smaller more modest homes. Rocks and old streets crumbled and turned to sand and mixed with dirt as the fake river changed its course over and over becoming minutely smaller each time.

Birth, life and death of all things happened within moments and before long, the tall buildings were not replaced at all after they collapsed. The small wooden homes here and there were overcome by the plants and turned to dirt. Only a few sturdy houses remained now, built with the last strong materials left, platinum and gold sheets dotted with precious stones that shined brightly in the dim sky.

The lands further out from the river turned to mainly to grasslands, with a few remaining trees close to the river. As the river dried, so did the life on the outer reaches of the domes. The weather control for rain failed early and the only traces of life were what touched the river banks. Like a thin beautiful green ribbon.

The machines in the room clicked and whirred back down, slowing the time field as it came closer to the end of its 2 hundred year task. Days slowed too, as the flashing of sun and night could be seen like a rhythmic flickering of a candle in wind, until those too slowed. The power core was near drained and the last house under the dome was now absorbed and blended with the lower foundations of the last great tree.

The sun rose and eased up in the sky, it crawled along as it set over Argo, where that city used to be, and rose no more. Every machine in the room wound down like a dying clock until all was silent in the room.

The sky cleared of the stars and all that was left under the domes was that one lone tree, struggling to stay alive next to the trickle of water that once was a river.

 

No words needed to be spoken.

 

The opportunity to watch an entire civilization rise and fall was one that will never be had again. They had glimpsed the future that every civilization could have and eventually will have. Nothing lasts forever.

The great dome was so brittle now after the centuries, that it took great care not to shatter it before they could remove the last tree. It didn't seem right to leave it to die alone in the dark, in this now drying wasteland.

Digging his fingers deep underneath it, to keep its old roots stable, Arthur picked it up tenderly with his hands as Rasa brought over a beautiful old flower pot from upstairs. They watered it from the hand sink in the lab and as they left, they each said their goodbyes in their own way.

Before withdrawing from the lab, Arthur went over to a cupboard and pulled out their mother's jewelry box. "Mom would have wanted this to stay in the family, take good care of Little Miss." He said smiling at Rasa. He handed over the small, modest wedding band with an opal in the center.

Rasa and Arthur hugged each other. Then gave a playful punch to the others side before parting.

"Idiot."

"Moron."

They both wanted to stay, talk and laugh about the past but realized that time was running short. The only thing they knew now for certain is that there was nothing certain about their future.

They only had themselves and their friends to find a new path, and hoped that it would be filled with more life.

"Once we get to somewhere safe, there's something I want to share with you." Rasa said, "Something from Mom and Dad's room..."

"Oh... ok." Arthur said softly with his head down. "Let's wait until we get somewhere we can call home first. It wouldn't feel right at some hotel..."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Rasa said bumping into him as they left the their beloved family home through the front door. They walked down the torn up dirt path to the vehicles that were facing the street. The horse whinnied and the cow mooed from the back yard and the Tubris brothers waved goodbye to them.

Arthur sighed looking up into the deep blue sky and said, "Sic transit gloria mundi."

"What does that mean?" Rasa said in hushed tones.

"Look it up." Arthur laughed at Rasa's confusion.

"Shotgun." Arthur said punching Rasa's shoulder and ran over to the truck to where Arakawa was sleeping soundly at the wheel. She had been waiting ages for them to come back out of the house.

The truck shifted as the door swung open. "Oh crap! You startled me!" Arakawa said wiping off her mouth. She gave an embarrassed smile and kissed Rasa on the lips over and over as he gladly took the middle seat to sit next to her.

"Hey, hey now, share the love." Arthur said dismayed.

"Right, here ya go." Rasa said giving his brother a big smooch on his cheek. Arthur laughed as Arakawa waved at the other car and van to get on the road.

"Are you sure you want to drive Little Miss? It's been awhile since you've been behind the wheel..."

"Well, let's see, he was blind earlier, and you're drunk, I was just shrunk. So yeah, I'm driving."

They passed their neighbor's houses and waved at the few who braved the crazy day.

"Nice plant. So, where to." Arakawa asked after a while. They were heading south following the van to Mexico to drop off the 4, but from there, there wasn't really a plan.

"Go where the wind takes us." Arthur said.

"Or the streets." Rasa said.

"How about we decide in a more scientific way." She smiled and pulled out the road atlas from under her seat. "We let fate decide."

Rasa held it out in front of Arthur who produced an index finger. Both closed their eyes and moved the map and finger around in wobbling circles until they made contact with each other.

All three looked to where the finger pointed and approved.

"I hear it's lovely this time of year." Arakawa smiled.

 

The small convoy kept on going, long into the night. As fields, trees and rocks gave way to small houses and towns to huge cities, only to return further down the road back to peaceful untamed nature, surrounding the wonderfully vast and immense horizon.

 

 

The beginning.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

A uthor's note:

Hello again! I am proud to show off this, my second sci fi book. The first one being about a shape shifter named Edward Johnson and his journey to rescue his adopted family. (Highly recommended reading if I do say so myself :)

I decided not to say exactly what year it is set in, because I wanted it to be a prequel of sorts for my first book which is set in 2010. I wanted to keep it very vague, so you are not distracted by what else was around out that year but roughly it's set in 2004 or whereabouts. Dealing with time fields is also very confusing for the plot, so it could be earlier, or later then this, who knows!

The evolution of the brother's technology to what is used at the Center will be described in depth in the next book of this series. Namely to do with the temporal field generator and 'Bessy'. It would be spoilers for anyone that had not yet read that book. Currently working on the third book, which changes the tech even more so, becoming as complicated as the characters themselves.

The origins for the character names came from different sources, Rasa for one, - just popped in there. (it's pronounced like Raw _-_ saw (without the 'w's) The dictionary definition doesn't really apply to the character so don't even bother lookin :)

Tubris (the brother's last name) sounds like ‘Hubris’ which is: 1. pride: excessive pride or arrogance 2. excessive ambition: the excessive pride and ambition that usually leads to the downfall of a hero in classical tragedy .

Which kind of fits pretty well if you ask me...

I had Rasa continue to call Arthur by his real name but everyone that did not know his real name call him Author. It was a delicate balance to put in which name when. When he is dealing with everyone else he insists on them calling him 'Author'. At the end of the book it remains Arthur after he reunites with Rasa. Symbolizing that he is no longer ashamed and forgave his brother.

The rest of the character names were tricky and it helps that, besides the brothers, no one else has a full name. The three lab guys are names of real authors that I like. Mr. Douglas Adams, Mr. Yasuhiro Nightow, and Mrs. Hiromu Arakawa. Mrs. Arakawa wrote my favorite manga, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Mr. Adams wrote, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy among other great works, and Mr. Nightow wrote the manga, Trigun. I figured that using big names like J.R.R. Tolkein and many others would be too well known and distracting.

If I had said Albert Biminy instead of Mr. Biminy, it would have been too obvious for readers of the first book and might distract from the Tech /Lab workers from there. This story is not really centered around Albert.

The brother’s technology is the real reason for calling this a prequel to The Cat’s Journal, because it is the brother's machines that the Center is so advanced and powerful.

The next book is a continuation of this story and it involves the main characters from Cat's, and features Adams and Nightow more then the others from this book. In chronological order, Fake Cities would be the first, then Cat's Journal and then the new book, tentatively titled 'The Cat's Diary' which is still an _early_ work in progress

 I highly encourage everyone out there to write down your crazy dreams! Even if they seem way too out there to become a story, just write them down. You may be surprised at what other ideas spring up from the first seeds of your wonderfully unique dreams! It's hard to say when inspiration will hit, so I would recommend keeping those mini stories around, read them in a few years, see what imagination it sparks to life.

Just keep going!

 

Thank you so much for reading! :)

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> BTW - anyone that's read my other original story The Cat's Journal - this happens a decade before then. The sequel that combines both stories has to be read only after the reader has finished both. otherwise it wont make any sense at all. That one tentatively titled "the Cat's Diary" doesnt have an ending and is in horrible shape. basically notes and ideas. But I think it has potential. I just don't know where it's going so it stopped in it's tracks. (might post it too much later... I dunno. got too many plates spinning right now!)


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